
^ 







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. rHPARMnH lilTM..Ca..U»lY,PI7TSeuPEH,PA 



mmi ^nnn mmt iiu®si, 



Completed April 1888. 




lle^l\ei\y 



Ciotij:\ty'^ - 



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Siir\(if ed Yekf^. 



— BY 



GEORGE H. THURSTON. 



PITTSBUKGH: 
A. A. Anderson & Son, Book and Job Printers, 99 Fifth Avenue. 

1888. 



I 



5„. 



A. A. ANDERSON & SON. 
1888. 

BINDING BY 
WM. T. NICHOLSON. 






INDEX. 



Chapter, Page. 

I. From 1754 to 1788, I 

II. From 1788 to 1794, 24 

III. From 1794 to 181 1, . . . 34 

IV. From 181 1 to 1845, 43 

V. From 1845 to i860, 54 

VI. From i860 to 1865, 58 

VII. From 1865 to 1878, . • 81 

VIII. From 1878 to 1888, ......... 93 

IX. Boat Building in Allegheny County, 99^ 

X. Coal and Coke Trade, ........ 121 

XI. Iron and Steel Trade, . . . . . . . . .136 

XII. Glass Manufacturing, 179 

XIII. Natural Gas, 202 

XIV. Oil Trade in Allegheny County, . . . . . . 210 

XV. Copper, Lead, Brass and Tin, 218 

XVI. Mercantile Interests, . . 224 

XVII. From Pack Horse to Railroads, 241 

XVIII. Financial Institutions, 251 

XIX. Insurance Companies, ......... 280 

XX. Electrical Appliances, . 286 

XXI. Churches, Schools and Newspapers, . . . . . . 289 

XXII. Music, Art and Benevolent Institutions, 305 



PREFACE. 



This volume is not published as an elaborate history of a hundred years. It, is 
simply intended as a handy book of the more prominent and leading events in Alle- 
gheny county during that period. '^^^^ 

Nor is the narration of the growth of its industries designed to be an exhaustive 
account of them, which of themselves would far outrun the pages to which the piu|)- 
lisher proposed limiting this volume. As it is, the impossibility of confining within 
that scope even such a condensed exhibit of Allegheny county's manufacturing pro- 
gress and commercial interest, has caused it to overrun the limit prescribed. Even 
then much has been omitted that there was every temptation to dilate upon, although 
it is hoped that sufficient has been said to present such an account as will render the 
book an acceptable souvenir of the celebration of the county's centennial 

It is believed that the statistics of the various interests are nearly accurate, although 
the extreme difficulty of obtaining them, from indifference or procrastination of those 
that should be interested therein, has caused some of the more important industries 
and mercantile interests to be incomplete in their exhibit. This, especially, in bio- 
graphical data, has been discouraging. Rip Van Winkle is made to say, in Jeffer- 
son's play of that name, when he wanders back to the village of Falling Water after 
his twenty year's sleep, " How soon we are forgot when we are dead." Poor old 
" Rip's " reflections have arisen often in the compiler's thoughts while preparing this 
volume, and a sad amazement at the rush and roar and exacting demands of the 
business life of to-day, sweeping with its furious current details of the lives of those 
who, from family, social, or business relations should be remembered, from the minds 
of those who might be expected to hold them in remembrance. 

It is well for the human race, if the records of the past are of any value, that the 
ait of printing was invented, for it is only in books that the lives of men, the records 
of industrial progress, and the lessons of political events are preserved. Manuscripts 
might have done so to some extent, but in this mighty flood of progress they would 
have been no more than the birch canoe is to the huge steamers and the immense 
trains of burden Cars in the transportation of the commerce of the world. Such chro- 
nological record of successors of firms in the various industries of Allegheny county, 
and such biographical mention as are contained in this volume are submitted not as 
all that should be written, or even as in those cases complete, but as so much reserved 
from the engulfing waves of time. 

Keats, in his ode to the Nightingale, writes, " No hungry generations tread thee 
down." The generations of to-day are hungry, not for food, but for wealth and 
power, and tread upon another's heels so fast and ruthless that they trample into for- 
getfulness the acts and lives of their predecessors. Memories fade, monuments decay 
with years, and even solid edifices are erased before the wave of progress, but books 
live. Perchance, then, something in these pages will preserve facts and memories, 
else lost, valuable in the future and of interest now. 

The narrator of this panoramic history of Allegheny County's Hundred Years 
Years lays down his pen wondering at its growth, regretful to leave so much unsaid, 
impressed with the importance the county has been in the political development of 
the nation, the settlement of the west, the progress of manufacturing in the past, and 
convinced, unless there is some radical change in human affairs, that prominent as 
the county has been it will be more so in the future ; that great as has been its pro- 
gress in the years that are gone, it will be greater in the years to come. That the 
elements of manufacturing industry concentrated in and around the county, its geo- 
graphical location, its transportation advantages, and the knowledge and skill ac- 
quired by its great army of mechanics, must result in a development as great in the 
next hundred years as in those past, unless all the factors now potent in the progress 
of the world cease. 



CHAPTER I. 
From 1754 to 1788. 

From 1788 to 1888, comprises a wonderful century in the development of the 
industrial arts, and the commercial faculties of the world. The century that has 
witnessed the birth of the steamboat, the locomotive, the telegraph, and its cog- 
nate electrical appliances. The hundred years in which man has demonstrated 
his power of self government ; and a nation, that stands now the foremost of 
the world, has risen to the grandeur of a leader of the nations in all that points 
to a higher civilization, and a broader Christianity and the equality of man 
before law and his fellows. Allegheny County has, in that century, made a 
marked impress and contributed its full share in the development of the arts 
whereby men earn their bread, and attain wealth. First and foremost in many of 
the advances in commercial facilities it has been no laggard in those that opened 
the way to a broader civilization, and the elevation of men, nor has its voice been 
silent where political rights were to be maintained, or wrongs righted. 

To sketch the story of Allegheny County's hundred years is to paint the pano- 
rama of the march of civilization into the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Through 
her territory marched the advance columns of emigrants, and for years and years 
the wharves of her great city, Pittsburgh, witnessed the embarkation of thousands 
and thousands, who laid the foundation of the great western States. Her soil is 
classic ground in the nation's history. On it France and England strove to hold, 
the empire. On it the footsteps of men grand in history have left their impress. 
To tell of the development of the industries of the nation is to describe the growth 
of Allegheny County's mills, furnaces, and forges ; the progress of transportation 
facilities ; and the emancipation of the nation in steel and glass and copper, from- 
a tributary condition to Europe. In the latter half of the eighteenth century a 
most important point in the view of rival European nations, Allegheny County, as 
it rounds her hundred years, is the most prominent county in the nation of sixty 
millions of people, and of marked interest to every manufacturing community in 
the old world. Well may her citizens celebrate with pride her centennial year. 

To establish the date at which the history of Allegheny County considered as 
an integral portion of Pennsylvania begins, is difficult. Remotely it is not un- 
connected with the arrival of William Penn in the new world, late in the fall of 
1682, as from that time gradually cumulated the events that led up to the more 
striking incidents in the earlier historic annals of the country. It is in 1744, 
when hostilities were declared between France and Great Britain, that the more 
salient points became apparent that tended so directly to render the territory, out 
of which was finally formed Allegheny County in 1788, an important center. 

To the natural transportation facilities afforded by the Ohio and its confluents 
at the point of land now occupied by the city of Pittsburgh, is largely to be attri- 



2 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

l)!!ted to tlie tendency of events thither. In 1744, a treaty was made witli the 
Delaware Indians, by which they ceded to the king of Great Britain all the 
hinds in the bounds of Virginia. In 1748, Thos. Lee, one of his Majesty's council 
in Virginia, proposed forming a settlement in the wild lands west of the Alle- 
gheny mountians, and he associated with himself Thomas Hanbury, a merchant of 
London, and twelve other persons in Virginia and Maryland, among whom were 
Lawrence and Augustus Washington, brothers of George Washington. They 
formed "The Ohio Land Company," to which was ceded by the King one half 
million acres of land to be taken chiefly from the territory on the south side of the 
Ohio river, between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. Before this- date no 
English residents occupied this region A few traders mingled with the tribes, but 
neither occupied nor cultivated the lands. These lands were ceded on very easy 
terms, which were that 200,000 acres should be immediately selected and be held 
for ten years free from any quit-rent or tax to the King, on condition that 100 
families should be seated upon them within seven years, at the company's expense, 
a fort built, and a garrison maintained to protect the settlement. The Ohio Com- 
pany appear to have erected a storehouse at Redstone creek, now Brownsville, and 
to have made a small establishment at the forks of the Ohio ; but the disturbed 
state of the frontier prevented them from bringing any large amount of goods 
beyond the Allegheny mountains. The French war interrupted their oj^erations 
entirely, and the company was, in 1770-72, merged in a more extensive one in 
which Thos. W^alpole, Dr. Franklin, and Gerge Pounal were interested. 

The Revolution breaking out about that time put an end to the company, and 
the title to their lands was never perfected. The formation of this company is 
closely allied with and provocative of some of the early events in the territory 
that subsequently became Allegheny County, a portion of the lands of the Ohio 
Company being now within its bounds. In 1752, Mr. Christopher Gist was sent to 
explore the county. In his journal he states that he went from Virginia to the 
Juniata, which he ascended, and descended the Kiskiminitis to the Allegheny. 
This latter river he crossed a little below where Sharpsburg now is, and passed on 
to the Ohio, and around the county on the south side of the Ohio as far as the 
Kanawha. In 1752 a treaty was held with the Indians at a point called Logstown, 
about fourteen miles below the present city of Pittsburgh. Soon after this treaty 
Gist was directed to lay off a town and a fort near the mouth of the Chartiers 
creek. 

In the fall of 1753, Major George Washington was sent by Governor Dan- 
widdie to report on the lands held by the vState of Virginia on the Ohio, and those 
ceded in 1748 to the Ohio Company. 

In his report Washington writes : 

"The excessive rains and the qviantitiesof snow which had fallen prevented our 
reaching Mr. Fraziers, an Indian trader at the mouth of Turtle creek on the 
Monongahela river, till Tuesday, the 22d, (November.) We were informed here 
that our expresses had been sent a few days before to the traders down the river, 
to acquaint them with the death of the French General and the return of the 



EARLY HISTORY. 3 

major part of the Frencli army to winter quarters. Tlie waters were quite impassa- 
ble, without swimming our horses, wliicli obliged us to get the loan of a canoe from 
Frazier, and to send Barnaby Currin and Harry Stewart down the Monongaliela 
with our baggage to meet us at the forks of the Ohio, about ten miles, there to 
cross the Allegheny. As I got down some time before the canoe, I spent some 
time in viewing the rivers and the land in the forks, wiiich I think extremely 
well situated for a fort, as it has absolute command of both rivers. The land at 
the point is twenty to twenty-five feet above the common surface of the waters, and 
a considerable bottom of flat, ivell timbered land all around it, very convenient for 
building. The rivers are each a quarter of a mile or more across, and run here 
very near at right angles. The former of the two is a very swift and rapid run- 
ning water, the other deep and still without any preceptible fall. -^ * ^ * * 
About two miles from this on the south east side of the river at the place where 
the Ohio Company intend to erect a fort, lives Shingiss, King of the Delawares." 

Of this residence of Shingiss, Neville B. Craig says in the Pittsburgh Gazette, 
in 1841, "Our late esteemed friend, John McKee, Esq., has often pointed out the 
place where Shingiss resided. It was near the river and near McKee's Rocks." 

The prominence of George Washington in the history of the nation, gives an 
interest to any location in'Allegheny County where he stood. On November 22d, 
1753, he was at the mouth of Turtle creek, on the 23d, at the point where the 
Allegheny and the Monongaliela unite. A month later, returning from his visit 
to Fort Le Boeuf, in w'hat is now ^^enango County, on foot with his guide, Mr. 
Gist, he was thrown from a raft while crossing the Allegheny, on December 26tli, 
1753, and narrowly escaped drowning in ten feet of [water running thick with ice. 
Extracting himself with great difficulty he managed to reach an island, where he 
and his companion remained until morning. That island is now part of the bank 
of the river, through the filling up of river channel between it and what was at 
that time the shore. It was what was called " Wainright's Island" opposite the 
foot of Eoptlfe^ig^ht-h 'street of the present city of Pittsburgh. 

The next morning they crossed on the ice to the main land. Current old time 
authorities indicate that they landed near where the Sixteenth street bridge now 
stands. 

At the time of the battle of Braddock's Fields, in 1755, Washington was again 
an actor in the historical incidents of x4.11egheny County, and in 1770, on his return 
from an examination of lands on the Kanawha, appropriated among the soldiers 
who served in the French war, he spent all of the 22d of November at Fort Pitt. 

From 1753, the historical events that cluster around the territory that was, in 
1788, organized as Allegheny County, began to thicken. In 1753 the French were 
busy in carrying out their scheme of uniting Canada and Louisiana by a line of 
forts. One of these was to be located at the present site of Pittsburgh, and one at 
Logstown. The one at Logstown it would appear the French had erected before, 
or about the time of the building of Captain Trent's stockade at the junction of 
the Allegheny and Monongaliela rivers, as the following entry in the records at 
Harrisburg would indicate : 

" March the 12, 1754, evidence sent to the House that Venango and Logstown, 
where the French Forts are built, are m the province of Pennsylvania." 



4 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

At this date there was a controversy be+ween the States of Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania about the ownej'ship of the territories at and around the forks of the 
Ohio. Under date of March 21, 175- Governor Dunwiddie, of Virginia, writes 
to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania — "I am misled by our surveyors if the 
forks of the Monongahela be within the bounds of Pennsylvania." 

This claim was probably, in some measure, based on the ceding of lands to the 
Ohio Company, composed principally of citizens in Virginia, by the King in 1748^ 
A double contest for that portion of territory was beginning. The French and 
English were about to cross swords for it, and Virginia and Pennsylvania were 
contending for it. This latter claim lasted for nearly twenty years, and was the 
occasion of much angry feeling. 

The letter of Governor Dunwiddie, before quoted, was dated March 21, 1754^ 
but a month earlier Captain Trent had begun the erection of a stockade for the 
defence of the point against the threatened occupation of the territory by the 
French, and possibly in protection of the Ohio Company grant, by which they 
were to erect a fort for the protection of the settlers. This movement resulted 
from the visit of Washington, in November of the preceding year, to examine the 
lands of the Ohio Company. On his report to Governor Dunwiddie, two compa- 
nies were immediately, on Washington's return to Williamsburg, Va., ordered to 
the "forks" to erect a fort. One company under the command of Captain Trent, 
being ready, marched promptly, and on the 17tli of February, 1754, they were 
busy erecting the little stockade which was, on the 24th of April, surrendered to 
Captain Contrecoeur by Ensign W^ard, then in command — Captain Trent being 
away at Wills Creek, near Cumberland, and Lieutenant Frazier at his residence^ 
near Turtle Creek. 

As mentioned previously, Mr. Gist and Col. Fry, on the part of Virginia, had 
concluded a treaty with the Indians at Logstown, by which the Indians agreed not 
to molest the settlements of the English on the south-east of the Ohio, but refused 
to recognize any English title to the land, denying that a previous treaty at Lan- 
caster had been made with their consent, or that it conveyed any land west of the 
Allegheny mountains. The Ohio Company made an attempt to settle their lands 
with German emigrants in an effort to carry out the condition by which the lands 
were ceded to them. 

The system of English episcopacy which prevailed in Virginia, and demanded 
church rates from dissenters, was repulsive to the Germans, and they preferred to 
settle in the province of William Penn. To the understanding at the present day, 
of this apparent confusion as to the territory of Pennsylvania, it should be remem- 
bered that the whole valley of the Monongahela, including the country around 
the forks of the Ohio, was for many years supposed to be in Virginia. A great 
part of the land titles in this region originated from patents granted by the Gover- 
nors of that State. 

In October, 1753, Major George Washington, then twenty-one years of age, 
while on his way to the commandment of the French forces at Le Bceuf, called at 



EARLY HISTORY. 5 

Mr. Gist's plantation, who had built himself a cabin soon after the Logstown 
treaty, at a point since called Mount Braddock. Keceiving to his inquiries unsatis- 
factory information as to the designs of the French, he made a report to Governor 
Dunwiddie, of Virginia, who made preparations to repel their encroachments. A 
regiment was raised under the command of Col. Joshua Fry, for the purpose of 
■erecting a fort at the forks, of which Washington was appointed Lieutenant 
Colonel, and Captain Trent's company was hurried forward to erect tlie fort, which, 
as previously narrated surrendered to the French under Captain Contrecoeur, with 
a force of one thousand French and Indians, he having also eighteen pieces of 
artillery. 

Captain Contrecoeur at once began the erection of Fort Duquesne, a plan of 
which is one of the illustrations of this volume. This sketch was made by Cap- 
tain Strobo, who, at the surrender of Fort Necessity, at Great Meadows, by Wash- 
ington, July 3d, 1754, was detained as a hostage by the French. The drawing 
was made on the back of a letter written July 29th, 1754, by Captain Strobo to 
Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, and sent by an Indian, urging an attack on 
the fort. 

In that letter Strobo writes : " There are but two hundred men here at this 
time, two hundred more are expected in a few days; the rest went off in several 
detachments to the amount of one thousand, besides Indians. The Indians have 
great liberty here, and go in and out when they please without notice. If one 
hundred trusty Shawnees and Mingoes and Delawares were picked out they might 
surprise the fort, lodging themselves under the platform behind the palisades by 
day, and at night secure the guard with their tomahawks. The guard consists of 
forty men only and five officers. None lodge in the fort but the guard, except 
Contrecoeur, the rest in bark cabins around the fort. All this you have more 
particularly in yesterday's account. La Force is greatly needed here. Let the 
good of the expedition be considered before our safety. Haste to strike." 

On July 9, 1755, occurred the battle between the French under Dumas and 
Bsaujeu, with their Indian allies, and the English under Gen. Edward Braddock, 
with which was inaugurated the effort of Great Britain to wrest from the French 
the control of the west. Four days previous, on July the 5th, the French and 
the Indians at Fort Diiquesne were thrown into a state of great excitement by 
the report brought by out-lying scou.ts that Braddock with a formidable army was 
approaching. The French commandant's force was small, and the fort incapable 
of resisting the lightest field-pieces. The commandant had abandoned the idea 
of resistance, when Capt. Beaujeu proposed to take a detachment of French and 
Inlians and intercept Braddock on his march. The Indians declared the pro- 
ject foolhardy, and declined to go. After repeated urging by Beaujeu they con- 
sented. On the 7th of July Braddock was but eighteen miles distant, and on the 
morning of the 9th the French and Indians marched on what was thought by 
nearly all to be a hopeless expedition. This force ambushed themselves at the 
point now occupied by the town of Braddock. At that time the ground was com- 



6 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

pleteiy covered with forest, whicli hid from view deep ravines of ten to twelve 
feet depth, in which the Frencli force conceafed themselves. Of tluir nnmbers, 
JSTevilie B, Craig', in his mention of this event, while giving no account of the 
battle, says: ''The lowest estimate reduces the number of white men to tv.'o hun- 
dred and thirty-live, and the number of Indians to six hundred." 

Gen. Braddock, with 1,200 men and officers, moved from the north side of the 
Youghiogheny on the morning of the 9th. Of this Washington, who had been 
ill with a fever and joined the forces on the 8th, writes in a letter written after 
the battle: "On the 9th, the day of the battle, I, although very low and weak, 
attended the General on horseback. The army crossed the left bank of the 
Monongahela a little below the mouth of the Yorghiogheny, being prevented by 
rugged hills from continuing along the right bank to the fort." 

Sparks, in his "Life and Writings of General Washington," writes: "Wash- 
ington was often heard to say during his lifetime that the most beautiful s]^ectacle 
he had ever beheld was the display of the British trcops on this eventful morn- 
ing. Every man was dressed in full uniform ; the soldiers were arranged in^ 
columns, marching in exact order." Captain Orme, an aid of Braddock's, in a 
letter dated at Fort Cumberland, July 18, says: "The 9th inst. we passed and 
repassed the Monongahela by advancing, first a party of three hundred men^ 
which was immediately followed by another of two liundred. The General, with 
the column of artillery, baggage and main body of the army, passed the river the 
last time about one o'clock. As scon as the whole had arrived on ilie fort side 
of the Monongahela we heard heavy and quick firing in our front." 

Colonel Burd, who leceived his information from Colonel Dunbar at P^ort Cum- 
berland, writes : "The brittle began at one o'clock of the neon aid ccntinued 
three hours. The enemy kept behind trees and logs of wood, and cut down our 
troops as fast as they could advance. The soldiers insisted ujucli to be allowed to 
take to the trees, which the General denied, and stf rmed nnich, calling them cow- 
ards, and even went so far as to strike th.tm with his own swoid ftr attempting (o 
take to the trees. Our flankers and many of our soldiers that did tt.ke to the 
trees were cut off from the fire of our own line, as they nred their platoons 
wherever they saw a smoke or (ire. One-half of the army engaged never saw 
ihe enemy, --s- -^ * * The General had with him all liis papers, which are 
entirely fallen into the hands of the enemy, and likewise twenty-five thousand 
pounds in cash. The loss of men, as nigh as Colonel Dunbar can compute at that 
time, is seven hundred killed and wounded (about one-half killed) and forty 
officers." 

Colonel Washington writes to his mother, m July 18, from Fort Cumberland : 
"We were attacked by a party of French aiul Indians, whose number did not, I 
•am fnlly persuyded, exceed 300 men, while ours consif-ted of about 1,300 well- 
arn^icd trocps, cliie'ly regular soldiers, who were seized with a panic and beliaved 
witli more cowardice than it is possible to conceive. The soldiers behaved gal- 
lantly, * * "^ there being ne:n-ly sixty killed and vroun'.ied. The A'irginia 



EARLY HISTORY. 7 

troops showed a good deal of bravery, and were nearly all killtd. * "^ ^" The 
General was wonnded and died three days after. I luckily escaped without a 
wound, though I had four ballets through my coat and two horses shot under me." 
It has always been a tradition that General Braddock was killed by one of his 
own men. On that point, the Hon. Andrew Stewart, of Uniontown, said in his 
lifetime that he knew and often conversed with Tom Fausett (who was supposed 
to have shot Braddock), and that he did not hesitate to avow in the presence of 
his friends that he had shot the General. Fausett was a man of gigantic frame, 
of uncivilized, half savage propensities, and spent most of his life among the 
mountains. He would occasionally come into town and get drunk. 

Sometimes he would repel inquiries into tlie affair of Braddock's death by put- 
ting liis tinger to his lips and uttering a buzzing sound; at others he would burst 
into tears. In spite of Braddock's orders that the troops should not protect 
themselves behiud the trees, Joseph Fausett had taken such a position, when 
Braddock rode up in a passion and struck him down with his sword. 

Tom Fausett, who was but a short distance from his brother, seeing the trans- 
action, immediately drew up liis rifle and sliot Braddock through the lungs, partly 
in revenge of his brother, and, as he always alleged, to get the General out of the 
way and save the remainder of the band, who were being sacrificed through his 
obstinacy. 

On the side of the French it is to be I'ecorded that Beaujeu fell at the first 
fire, and under Captain Dumas the victory was gained. 

These are the main incidents of the battle of Braddock's Field, as the scene 
thereof was long called, but is now known as Braddock, the title of a borough of 
sonje 9,000 or 10,000 inhabitants, wlio;re dwellings and workshops cover the area 
of the fight, and where the largest steel works in the United States is situated. 
The forest and the ravines where tlie French troops ambushed have been oblit- 
erated by the impi'ovements. 

From the date of this battle there aie few or no records that are germane to 
the public history of Fort Diiquesne, or of the territory that became organized 
or incorporated as Allegheny county until 1758. At that date the whole area 
w^est of the Alleghenies was a vast wilderness, having no governmental bounds or 
government, except such as might be claimed by the Provinces of Pennsylvania 
or Virginia under quasi-treaties with the Indian tribes who still asserted their ter- 
ritorial rights and disputed the accessation of their lands. Therefore, in sketch- 
ing what may be termed the period of gestation of Allegheny county, it is dif- 
ficult to avoid touching upon occurrences and movements in what are now West- 
moreland, Fayette and Washington counties. In the area within which are now 
embraced those counties, transpired or arose inci<lenfs which, while they are not 
within the strict history of Allegheny county, were incidental to its final settle- 
ment, and a necessary adjunct in the narration of its story. 

Previous to the year 178S Westmoreland County, out of which Allegheny 
County was taken, was a wilderness without mads otiier tlian Indian trails, as was 



8 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

also Fayette, which was also taken from Westmoreland, that county originally in- 
cluding the whole south-western corner of the State. The access to the "Forks," 
as the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela was designated, was up the Ju- 
niata, thence by water down the Kiskiminitis to the Allegheny, or by Braddock's 
road from Virginia. This latter road did not run in the same course as the one 
opened afterwards by Ck)lonel Burd to Redstone creek, now the site of the town of 
Brownsville. 

"The course of Braddock's road was N. N. E." says Colonel Burd in his journal, 
"turning much to ye eastward." It crossed the Youghiogheny a little below the 
residence of Colonel William Crawford, on the left bank of the river, and the 
place is still called Braddock's Fort. 

Colonel Crawford was an intimate friend of Washington, and a captain in 
Forbes' expedition in 1758. He was the Colonel Crawford who was burned to 
death by the Indians in 1782, on the Muskingum, having been captured in an ex- 
pedition to destroy the Indians on that river. 

Colonel Burd's road, according to his journal, "began a quarter of a mile from 
the camp (Dunbars), the course N. N. W." He says — "Marked two trees at the 
place of beginning, thus — ' The road to Bedstone, Col. J. Burd, 1759 ;' ' The road 
to Pittsburgh, 1759.' " 

From this it would appear that Fort Pitt was at that early date known as Pitts- 
burgh, although there was at that time, by best accounts, only a few bark and log 
cabins scattered around the fort. 

In May, *1 755, the province of Pennsylvania agreed to send out 300 men to cut 
a Avagon road from Fort London, in Bedford county, to join Braddock's road, near 
the Turkey Foot, on three forks of the Youghiogheny. In 1758 it was determined 
under the administration of the English government, by William Pitt, to expel 
the French from the valley of the Ohio. General Forbes was placed in the com- 
mand of a force of 7,850 men. Colonel Washington, who had been appointed the 
colonel of a regiment of Virginia troops, when the route to be taken to Fort Du- 
quesne was discussed, urged General Forbes to take the Braddock road to Fort 
Duquesne, as it was already opened, which would indicate that the force of 300 
men, in May, 1755, had completed the undertaking for which they were sent out. 

The Pennsylvanians, however, jealous of the claims of Virginia on the Monon- 
gahela, were determined not to lose the opportunity of opening a communication 
with the "Forks" over their own territory. 

Their counsels, backed by the arguments of Colonel Boquet, who was with the 
force, prevailed with General Forbes, and in September of 1758, he, with a force 
of 2,500 men, advanced to cut the road. 

Washington, although chagrined at the change in the route, took a warm in- 
terest in the movement, and solicited an advanced position for his own corps in 
making the roa'l. He joined the advanced corps at Loyalhanna in October of that 
year with the rank of Brigadier. His letters represent the party as "encountering 
every hardship of an advanced season, want of clothes, and a small stock of provi- 



EARLY HISTORY. 9 

sions." It was doAvn these two routes, the making of which has been briefly noted^ 
that for years the pioneers of the west came who settled in Allegheny County. 

While General Forbes' advanced corps were cutting his way through West- 
moreland county, he dispatched Major Grant with a force of 800 men to reconnoiter, 
General Forbes himself with the main body moving slowly along by the new cut 
road towards Fort Duquesne. On the night of September, 1758, Major Grant and 
his force reached the hill near the fort. This hill has ever since had the name of 
^'Grant's," its title being derived from that commander's battle with the French. 
It had originally an elevation of about 100 feet above the level of the plain below. 
Under the necessities arising from the growth of the city it has been largely graded 
away, although as late as 1840, a section of its original height remained, upon 
which was the first reservoir of the city's water works, occupying that portion of 
the hill through which Diamond street now runs. 

On the morning of the 14th of September Major Grant attacked the fort. This 
attack of Major Grant is characterized by General Washington in a letter to the 
Governor of Virginia as "a very ill-conceived, or very ill-executed plan, perhaps 
both ; but it seems to be generally acknowledged that Major Grant exceeded his 
orders." 

It was eleven o'clock at night when Major Grant appeared with his troops on 
tlie brow of the hill, about a quarter of a mile from the fort. 

In the morning four hundred men were posted along the hill, facing the fort, 
to cover the retreat of a company under Captain McDonald, who marched with 
drums beating toward the enemy, Major Grant believing there was but a smal^ 
force in the fort. The garrison, who seemed to have kept an apparently sleepy 
watch, was aroused by the music and sallied out in great numbers, of both French 
and Indians. This force, accounts say, was separated into three divisions, two of 
which were sent, under cover of the banks of the two rivers, to surround the 
force of Major Grant, while the third delayed a while to give the others time, and 
then displayed themselves before the fort as if exhibiting their whole strength. 
The attack then began, and Captain McDonald, with his one company, was imme- 
diately obliged to fall back on the main body under Major Grant, who at the 
same moment found himself suddenly flanked on all sides by the detachments of 
the enemy moving from the banks of the river. The struggle became desperate. 
The provincial troops, as at Braddocks, at once covered themselves behind trees, 
and made a good defence ; but the Highlanders stood exposed to the fire without 
cover, and fell in great numbers, and at last gave way and fled. Major Lewis, 
who had been posted in the rear with two hundred men, principally American 
regulars and Virginia volunteers, with the baggage, hastened forward to the sujj- 
port of Grant, but soon found himself flanked on both sides. The work of death 
went on rapidly, and in a manner quite novel to the Highlanders, who in all their 
European wars had never before seen men's heads skinned ; the}^ gave way, and 
the rout of tlie troops became general. 

It is recorded as one of the incidents of this rout, that as Major Lewis was 
advancing with his men he met a Scotch Highlander under full flight, and on in- 



10 ALLEaUKNY COUyTY\S 

quiring of him ])o\v the battle was g')ing, tlie panic stricken soidier replied: they 
were " a' beaten, and he iiad seen Donald McDonald up to his hunkers in nnid, 
and a' the skin off his -heed." This would indicate that the Highlanders liad 
reached or were passing the point or base of the hill, at the present line of Smith- 
field street, between Fifth avenue and Third avenue, as a series of ponds or stretch 
of swamp skirted the base of Grant's hill just here, and it was probably in passing 
through this swampy portion of the ground that poor Donald McDonald sunk up 
to his "hunkers in mud" and lost the "skin of his heed," and it is probable that 
he was the Captain McDonald who led his one company with drums beating down 
the face of the hill as if on parade. 

A number of the men were driven into the river and drowned, and Major 
Lewis taken prisoner. This officer is the celebrated General Andrew Lewis of the 
Lidian war of 1774, commonly called Lord Dunmore's war. He was the com- 
panion of Washington in the campaign of Braddock, and was a captain in the 
detachment that fouglit at Fort Necessity, and it is stated that Washington's 
opinion of Lewis' military abilities was so great that when the chief command of 
the revolutionary armies was tendered to him, that he recommended it should 
rather be given to General Lewis. Stuart, in his Historical Memoira, says, " General 
Lewis was upwards of six feet high, of uncommon strength and agility, and his 
form of the most exact symmetry. He had a stern and invincible countenance, 
and was of a reserved and distant deportment, which rendered liis presence more 
awful than engagina:." 

Major Grant retreated to the baggage, where Captain Bullet, with fifty Vir- 
ginians, endeavored to rally the flying soldiers. As soon as the enemy came up 
Captain Bullet attacked them with great fury ; but being unsupported, and most 
of his men killed, Avas obliged to retreat. Major Grant and Captain Bullet were 
the last to desert the field. They separated, and Major Grant was taken prisoner. 
It is not without interest in this connection to state that the point at which' Grant 
was captured was at wliat is now the corner of Wood street and Third avenue^ 
wliere the St. Charles Hotel now stands. 

This is the same Col. Grant who, in 1775, on the floor of the British Parliament 
said that he liad often acted in the same service with the Americans ; that he knew 
tliem well, and from that knowledge ventured to predict "that they would never 
dare face an English army, as being destitute of every requisite to good soldiers." 

Yrhile Grant and Lewis w^ere detained as prisoners at Fort Duquesne, Grant 
siddressed a letter to General Forbes, attributing their defeat to Lewis. This 
letter being inspected by the French, who knew the falsehood of the charge, they 
handed it to Lewis. He waited upon Grant and challenged him ; upon his refusal 
to fight he spat in his face in the presence of the French officers, and left liim ta 
reflect upon his baseness. 

Gn November 24th, the French, panic stricken at the approach of General 
Forbes' main army, set fire to the inflamable parts of the fort, and blew n\) others, 
and embarking in boats or batteaux, descended the Ohio. General Forl^es repaired 



EARLY HISTORY. II 

to wnie extent the ruined fort, and returned in a fev,- weeks to Pliiladelphia, wliei e 
he soon afterwards died, in March, 1759, aged 49 years. 

In the Pittsburgh Gazette, 1841, Neville B. Craig, Esq., says: "Two liundred 
men of Washington's regiment were left to garrison the plac e." He makes na 
mention, however, of Wasliington being at the fort, although in the same article 
he says, writing of the advance of Forbes' forces: "Washingt(m was advanced to- 
the fort to superintend the opening of the road, and the army moved after liim 
by slow and laborious steps." The presumption would be that he was at or near 
the fort on its occupancy by the English, but probably returned with Forbes to 
Pliiladelphia or to Virginia, leaving a portion of his original regiment, as before 
stated, to defend the fort. On this point, Col. Boquet, who was with Gen. Forbes 
at the occupation of Fort Duquesne, and also subsequently ordered by General 
Armherst to the relief of Fort Pitt, writes from Fort Duquesne, under date of 
November 25th, 1758: " We marched this morning and found the report trne-^ 
Ihey have blown up and destroyed all their fortifications, horses, ovens, and 
magazines; all their Indian goods burnt in the stores, which seem to have been 
considerable. There seem to have been about 400 men, part is gone down the- 
Ohio, 100 by land, supposed to Presque Isle, and 200 with Governor M, De Lig- 
nerVj to Venango. The destruction of the fort, the want of victuals, and tlie- 
impossibility of being supplied in time at this distance and season of the year,, 
obliges us to go back and leave a small detachsuent of 200 men only by way of 
keeping possession of the ground." 

Mr. Craig says: — "The first Fort Pitt, a slight works, composed of pickets with 
a shallow and narrow ditch, was partly thrown up for the reception of 200 men. 
The rest of the army returned to the settlement." 

In the summer of 1759 General Stanwix arrived and began the erection of 
Fort Pitt, on a plan drawn by K. Kutzer. A letter written from thence, in Sep- 
tember, 1759, says: "It is now a month since the army has been employed erect- 
ing a most formidable fortification, such a one as will, to latest posterity, secure Brit- 
ish Empire on the OhioP 

Considering this assertion, under the facts of subsequent history, the French 
proverb, "■ L' Jiomme propose et Diea dispose," rises irresistibly in the mind. 

To a clear understanding of these facts, 'round which two prominent historical 
battles were fought, which has made Allegheny County classic ground in American 
history, the subjoined engraving of Fort Pitt is given. It is a reduced copy of the 
draft made by Engineer Rutzer, in 1761, afterwards presented to George III , and 
given by George IV. to the British Museum, from which a copy was made by^ 
Km. Richard Biddle of Pittsburgh, in 1830, during his visit to London. 

Tlie plan, it will be noted, shows the original site of Fort Duquesne, the first 
Fort Pitt, or the slight stockade, so called, put up by General Forbes, and the- 
second Fort Pitt, erected under General Stanwix's command. The more detailed 
view of Fort Duquesne, wiiich forms one of the illustrations of this volume, is- 
from a sketch made by Captain Strob(>, wh.en held as a hostage there by the 
French, in 1754, as before mentioned. 



12 



ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 




a, Barracks, already built. 5, Commandant's House, not built, c, Store House, d, d, Pow- 
■der Magazines, e, Casemate, completed. /, Store House for Flour, &c. g, Wells, in two of which 
are pumps, h, Fort Duquesne. /, i, Horn Work, to cover French Barracks. A-, First Fort Pitt, 
^destroyed, n, Sally Port. 

Fort Pitt was finally finished on June 8tli, 1760, and is stated to have cost the 
English Government sixty thousand pounds sterling, or about $300,000. 

There is a natural tendency in the human mind to speculate on what might 
have been the results had events been reversed, and the query arises as to whether 
the United States would have been as they are now, or the same progress and the 
same commercial and manufacturing character obtained around the forks of the 
■Ohio and gradually spread westward, had the French retained control of the 
■country west of the AUeghenies. The country would have, in that event, naturally 
beea largely settled by the French people, as it would have been to the direct in- 



EARLY HISTORY. 1?> 

terest of France to have encouraged tlie emigration of her subjects thither. France 
would have then completed her policy of connecting the Canadas with Louisiana, 
by a chain of forts and thus secured the control of the great rivers of the west. 
Naturally the French are a pastoral nation, vy^hile the English are a manufac- 
turing people. 

The atmosphere of character has at all times dominated the spirit of the de- 
velopment of a country. While natural causes would ultimately have engendered 
the manufacturing enterprise that has placed Allegheny County so prominently 
before, not only the country, but the world, slower progress would possibly have 
been made. The colonization of Canada by the French is illustrative of the 
thought where the social and commercial atmosphere made by them delayed and 
still retards the rapid development of the resources of that section. 

Less cruel than the English in their acquisition of new territory, the French, 
as is apparent in all their history in the new world, fraternize largely with the 
Indians; that policy and disposition being greatly dominated by the religious 
aims of the Jesuits, which were always, primarily, to convert the people of the 
country and increase the following of the church. The result of this policy was 
to create a feeling of brotherhood, instead of a sentiment of antagonism, as 
historically the case under English conquests. 

Even if France had held control of the Mississippi Valley, England would no 
doubt have continued to have held the country from the seacoast to the eastern 
slope of the Alleghenies. While under the taxation of the English the colonies 
might have rebelled, yet it is probable, with all the country to the west held by 
France, the government of England would have long hesitated before they would 
have forced their American colonies to declare their independence, under the 
possibilities of powerful aid they might receive from the age-long enemy of Great 
Britain. 

It is a singular coincidence in connection with this thought that, as the history 
is, the English colonies should have, by the aid of France, established their inde- 
pendence, as would have been the case had that government retained sway west of 
the Alleghenies. 

While, if such had been the case, there is some probability that a republican 
form of government might have been established in the Mississippi and OhiO' 
Valleys by the French, yet as such a revolt in French colonies has not been in 
history, the probabilities are equally great that such would not have been the case 
in America, as France, in view of the agricultural richness of that section, would 
have endeavored by mild legislation to retain the loyalty of the colony instead of. 
alienating it by unjust taxations, as did Great Britain witfi her American colony. 
Had, however, in the course of time, a French republic been established, it would 
have coalesced with the American. 

While antagonism, leading to wars^ might not have resulted, the North Amer- 
ican continent would have been divided between two distinct people. It might be 
said, perhaps, three, for from the natural disposition of the French to fraternize- 



14 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

<!nd intermarry with the Indians, and the equally natural efforts of the Jesuit 
element of the Roman Catholic Church, there would have been an intermixture 
\jf race, by intermarriage, resulting in a lower grade of civilization than has been 
attained under the exclusive American control. The capture of Fort Duquesne, 
therefore, by General Forbes, by which the power of France was broken in the 
Ohio Valley, must be looked upon as the pivotal circumstance in the march of 
events that created a great nation of freemen and gave it the control of tlie con- 
tinent, and must be considered a very important event in the history of Allegheny 
County. 

After the capture of Fort Duquesne and the building of Fort Pitt, there were 
frequent conferences with the Indians and the commanders of the fort. On De- 
cember 4th, 1758, one was held by Colonel Henry Boquet with the Delawares. On 
July 4th, 1759, Colonel Hugh Mercer met for conference with the six nations of 
Shawnees and Delawares, July 4th of the same year Colonel George Croghan 
met in conference with an important delegation of the Indian tribes, at which the 
prominent chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees and Wyandots represented those 
tribes, and also by deputation of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Putawatimes, Twitha- 
wies, Cuskusrees, Kickapoos, Shokeys and Musquakes, October 25th of the same 
year General Stanwix held a conference with the six nations of the Delawares 
and Twithawies, At these several conferences the Indians assembled in large 
bands, with all the pomp of Indian, council and the dignity of independent 
nations, in treaty with the victorious English for peace and the preservation of 
their own national integrity. 

In the historical reviews of the early incidents at Fort Pitt this year is notable 
as investing Allegheny County and Pittsburgh with a halo of the romance that 
gathers with the passage of time, and the gradual dispersement of the Indian race 
around localities wliere they were prominent in battle and in councils. Beyond 
these important Indian conferences, there does not appear to be any mention of 
general public importance at or about that time connected with the region at or 
contiguous to what is now Allegheny County. Emigration came slowly in, and 
under the protecting influence of the fort, traders pursued their business with the 
Indians with comparative security. 

The English historian, Smollett, in commenting on the actions of General 
Stanwix while at ,Fort Pitt, says: "The happy consequences of these measures 
were soon apparent in the production of considerable trade between the nations 
and the merchants of Pittsburgh," 

The ground around the forts seem, under the quiet that prevailed among the 
Indians, and the consequent security to settlers, to have begun appreciating in 
value, and sales were made in 1792 at fifteen pounds ten shilling per hundred 
acres, Pennsylvania currency. This calm continued until the outbreak of the 
famous Pontiac war in 1763, That Indian chief had conceived the idea of uniting 
all the northwest tribes in a simultaneous attack on all of the frontier forts. 

In this famous Indian war, although its principal events were in the region of 
Detroit, yet Fort Pitt was still a point of mark and of attempted capture. The 



EARLY HfSTOBY. 15 

Indians surrounded tlie fort and cut off all communication with it. They posted 
themselves on the banks of both rivers, and continued there from day to day with 
great patience, pouring in showers of fire, arrows and musketry, hoping by famine, 
fire, or by harrassing the garrison, to carry the works. 

It was also planned to attack Fort Ligonier, in AVestmoreland county, and by 
capturing it cut ofi^ the supplies of Fort Pitt, and so reduce it by starvation. The 
Indians were repulsed from Fort Ligonier, and Colonel Boquet was dispatched 
with two regiments to relieve Fort Pitt. lie was attacked on the 5th of August, 
1763, at Bushy Run, a point twenty -one miles from Pittsburgh, in Westmoreland 
county, by a large force of Indians. After a desperate fight he defeated them 
with great slaughter, the English having fifty men killed and sixty wounded. 
After repulsing the Indians Colonel Boquet continued his march to Fort Pitt, 
where he arrived on the 9th of August, and relieved the garrison. In the fall of 
the succeeding year he erected a small redoubt, or block-house, inside the walls of 
the fort, which is still extant. The stone tablet, with his name and date of erec- 
tion, which he had placed over its door, is now preserved in the inside wall of the 
City Hall of Pittsburgh. 

The object of the erection of this redoubt is not of record, nor is its necessity 
apparent, utiless the fort was deemed unsafe, and the block-house provided as an 
ultimate resort in case of attack. There was another redoubt, also, erected near 
the fort, by Major William Grant, the same officer commanding at the battle of 
Grant's Hill. He returned to Fort Pitt from Montreal after being exchanged or 
released by the French. 

Of this redoubt Neville B. Craig writes: "Major Grant afterwards returned 
to this place, and erected the redoubt which stood on the banks of the Mononga- 
hela, opposite the mouth of Redoubt alley. W^e recollect distinctly seeing the 
stone tablets stating Golonel William Grant built the redoubt." 

Of this there is no relic. There are no dates to fix the period of its erection, 
but it is probable from the dates of the various occurrences of that period of time 
that it was built after the building of Fort Pitt by General Stanwix and before 
Colonel Boquet arrived at the fort. 

For some years after the Pontiac war there were not any occurrences at or 
around the forks of the Ohio of any great historical importance. While at the 
north of the Allegheny and south of the Monongahela the Indians were trouble- 
some, it does not appear that they in any formidable body made incursions into 
the section of country around the fort. Although there are sparce accounts of 
outrages by Indians in groups of two or three, no marked injury was done. 
This condition of aflPairs was the result of Colonel Boquet's expedition from Fort 
Pitt in 1764 against the Indians in "Muskingum county," as it was called. This 
expedition departed from Fort Pitt October 3d, 1763. Their course was along 
the low ground which is now in the First and Second wards of Allegheny, to the 
narrows; then along the river beach to Beaver creek; thence to Tuscarawas, near 
the forks of the Muskingum. The Indians w^ere overawed and sued for peace- 



;^ ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

The Delawares, Sliawnees and Senecas agreed to cease hostilities and surrendered 
a great number of prisoners, who were brought to Fort Pitt. 

The result of Colonel Boquet's expedition was to inspire such confidence at 
Fort Pitt that in 1764 a plan of lots and streets, commonly called "The Old Mili- 
tary Plan," was laid out. It embraced that portion of the present city lying be- 
tween Water street and Second street and Market and Ferry streets. 

In 1762 James Gondin raised a house at Eleven-Mile run, and William Shea- 
ner and Harry Shirach made improvements in the vicinity of the fort by order of 
Colonel Boquet, and Kasper Loup improved land four miles from Fort Pitt by 
permission of Colonel Boquet. 

In 1760 a house was erected at a place called Somerset, five or six miles from 
Fort Pitt, and five or six families commenced improvement on a tract of 1,500 
acres on the Ohio at the mouth of Two-Mile run, up the river to the narrows. 

Alexander McKee also made improvements on the Ohio river four miles below 
Fort Pitt, at the mouth of Chartiers creek. Portions of this tract are held by 
his heirs and their descendants through marriage, resident in Allegheny, in 1888, 

In 1769 William Christy applied for a location of 300 acres " within two miles 
of Fort Pitt." Mr. Christy's application was granted and permission given " to 
improve for the benefit of travelers." 

The tract so taken up included what was long known as " Grant's Hill," being 
the rising ground whereon is now the Court House of Allegheny County, and 
several squares of city dwellings, office buildings, St. Paul's Cathedral and St. 
■Peter's Episcopal Church. 

Among the early settlers of Allegheny County at this time and shortly after 
were John Carrothers, Eobert Smith, Walter Denny, John Greir, Joseph Hunter, 
William Ramsey, John Wilson, James Hannah, James Dean, Richard Butler, 
Robert Dewling, Devereaux Smith, John Wilkins, Jr., Thomas Bend, Jr., William 
Preston, Robert Harrison, Matthew Grimes, John Frankman and John Crush. 

In the spring of 1765 Fort Pitt was again the scene of a grand Indian confer- 
ence with George Croghan, Esq., deputy agent for Indian affairs. On the 9th of 
May of that year the chiefs of the Shawnees, Delawares, Senecas, Munsies and 
Sandusky Indians, accompanied by five hundred warriors, besides their women 
and children, assembled at the fort. 

On April 26th, 1768, the principal chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations^ 
Delawares, Shawnees, Munsies and Mohicans, to the number of 1,103, besides 
their women and children, once more assembled at Fort Pitt to confer with Colonel 
Croghan. 

Some items are quoted from the original manuscript, requisitions for articles 
needed for distribution to the Indians at that council. The entire value of the 
articles in the requisition is given at $26,575. Among them are 1,500 white ruffled 
shirts, at $3.00 each ; and 2,000 ruffled calico shirts, at $2.00 each ; 50 dozen black 
silk handkerchiefs, at $12 00 a dozen ; 50 gross scarlet, pink, blue, green and yellow 
plain bedlace, at 3 cents a piece ; 150 pieces scarlet, blue, pink, green, yellow rib> 



EARLY HISTORY. 17 

boning tafFerty, at $1.50 a piece; and 20 pieces of scarlet gartering. These, it is 
to be presumed, were for the adornment of the "bucks," as 150 pounds of vermillion 
is also called for, and 150 dozen gilt looking glasses. The requisition for 60 dozen 
redding combs and 50 dozen ivory combs is suggestive. The requisition for 600 
tomahawks, 100 scalping knives, 62 best brass box rifles, at $14.00 each, and 80 
quarter cwts. of rifle powder, shows that the government early began the policy 
they have pursued to the present day of placating the savage by giving them the 
means to continue their depredations. A special requisition is made for "silver- 
ware for the chiefs." This is specified as three large gorgets, at |8.00 each ; 6 pairs 
of large armlets, at $8.00 each ; 6 pairs of ear wheels, at $2.00 each ; for each of 
the ten nations who are thus orthographieally designated : Shawnocs, Delawares, 
Hurons, Twithawies, Putawatimes, Otfawas, Chipawa«, Saigneas, Outatanons, Fox 
Nations. "Silverware for the women" is also thus specified: 20 dozen crosses, 
at $4.00 a dozen ; 60 pairs wrist bands, at $3.00 a pair ; 200 dozen large plain 
brooches, at $1.50 a dozen; 100 dozen heart brooches, at $2.00 a dozen; 100 
small scalloped, at $1.00 a dozen; 30 dozen finger rings, at $1.75 a dozen. There 
is also 300 bunches of garnet beads, and 68 lbs. of email white, green and coral. 
This would suggest that if the women did not have a vote at the Indian caucus, 
they were supposed, as at the present day, to exert a home influence, it was well 
to influence. The pomp and parade at these councils, when the white and ruffled 
calico shirts had been donned, the gilt looking glasses, brilliant ribbons and red 
vermillion adjusted on the persons of the " bucks," the silver crosses, earbobs and 
armlets, beads and brooches upon the persons of the "squaws," suggest a brilliant, 
picture of the savage display around Fort Duquesne when these Indian confer-, 
ences were held. Years and years hence, when the original Indian has become- 
a myth, so far as any living type may be, the records of such gifts, and the per- 
sonal decorative uses to which they were put by the recipients, will come to be 
regarded almost as a mythical legend, or that the forks of the Ohio was the scene- 
of such barbaric display. 

It is hard to realize even now, that but a little over the hundred years of the^ 
existence of Allegheny County, with all its wealth of mills, factories, schools^, 
churches, and grand architectural buildings, the most crowded part of its great 
city was frequently the scene of such savage pageantries. 

In May, 1769, a warrant was issued for the survey of the Manor of Pittsburgh 
which, when completed, embraced fifty-seven hundred acres. The title to this 
was in the Penn family. John Penn, the grandson of William Penn, being at 
that date Lieutenant Governor of the province of Pennsylvania. As incident to 
this proprietorship, it is of interest to mention a proclamation issued by Governor 
Penn, as showing how the feeling against the Indians swayed his sentiments from 
the Quaker scruples, in which he had been educated, against bloodshed. In July, 
1764, this grandson of William Penn offered, by proclamation, as bounties for 
Indians killed or secured, " For every male above the age of ten years captured, 
$150 ; scalped, being killed, $134. For every female Indian enemy and every 
2 



18 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

male under the age ten years, |130 ; for every female above tlie age of ten years, 
scalped, being killed, |50." 

Under this proclamation it may easily be assumed that at that date Fort Pitt was 
a starting point for many scalping parties, and the rendezvous of the adventurous 
scouts of that day. Neither tradition or record show that within Allegheny 
County were any cruelties perpetrated, and the issue of the warrant to survey the 
Manor of Pittsburgh indicates that it was thought that settlements around the 
"Forks" were prudent and safe. During the war of the Kevolution, the Penn 
family were adherents of the British government, and in 1779, the Legislature 
confiscated all their property, except certain manors, of which surveys had been 
made and entered in the Land Office, prior to July 4th, 1776. The Manor of Pitts- 
burgh having, as before mentioned, been surveyed in 1769, thus remained the 
property of the Penns. 

On October 19th, 1770, as previously mentioned. General Washington visited 
Fort Pitt. He lodged, as he writes in his journal, at " the house of one Mr. 
Semple." This house was at the corner of Water and Ferry streets. It was built 
of logs roughly hewn, in 1764, by Colonel George Morgan, and was the first 
shingle roofed house at Pittsburgh, and is also the house where Aaron Burr stopped 
when at Pittsburgh, on his way to Blennerhasset Island in pursuance of the ex- 
pedition for which he was tried for treason. 

Washington was also at Pittsburgh on the 22d of October, as he records in his 
journal, " stayed at Pittsburgh all day. Invited the officers and some other gentle- 
men to dinner with me at Semple's, among whom was one Dr. Connelly, nephew 
to General Croghan." This is probably Dr. Connelly who seized Fort Pitt at a 
later period, acting for Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia. 

In 1772, the English garrison was withdrawn from Fort Pitt by order of Gen- 
eral Gage. It was during this year that Lord Dunmore, possible following up the 
claim made by Governor Dunwiddie in 1754, set up the pretension that the 
western boundary of Pennsylvania did not included Pittsburgh and the Mononga- 
hela river. It was in support of this claim that, in 1774, Lord Dunmore, Governor 
of Virginia, took possession of Fort Pitt by his agent, Dr. Connelly, two years 
after the withdrawal of the royal troops by order of General Gage. 

The fort seems to have been in a dismantled condition at the time, as a letter 
written by Devereaux Smith from Pittsburgh, June 10th, 1776, says : " Dr. Con- 
nelly has embodied upwards of 100 men, and will have the fort in good order in a 
short time." 

At the same time a deputation of the Six Nations had a conference with this 
Dr. Connelly, as Lord Dunmore's representative, in respect to the murders com- 
mitted by Cresap and Greathouse, which had led to the Indian war of 1774, called 
" Lord Dunmore's War." 

It is singular that the province of Pennsylvania, bounded on its western end 
1 )y a broad river, and on its sides by long, straight lines of latitude, should have 
had any dispute as to her western boundaries. Governor Dunwiddie, as before 



EARLY HISTORY. 19 

laientioned, in 1754, and Lord Dunmore, in 1774, undoubtedly thought Virginia 
had a good claim to what is now Allegheny County, and much more, and it is not 
clear that even Colonel Washington, who knew the country well, and had taken 
up much land in it, did not entertain the idea that what are now the counties of 
Fayette, Greene and Washington were in Virginia, for in and about the year 1774 
Governor Lord Dunmore opened several offices for the sale of lands within the 
bounds of what are now the counties of Fayette, Washington, Allegheny and 
Greene, the warrants being granted on paying two shilling and six pence fee. 
The purchase money was trifling, being only ten shillings per hundred acres, and 
■even that was not demanded. This was an inducement to apply to Governor 
Dunmore's agents rather than to those of the province of Pennsylvania. Governor 
Dunmore also procured the judicial authority of Virginia to be extended to the 
Ohio, and two courts were established and held south of the Monongahela, within the 
territory afterwards held by Pennsylvania, and one north of it at old Fort Bed- 
stone, now Brownsville. 

Be that as it may, Governor Penn promptly repulsed the intruders under the 
Virginia titles, arrested and imprisoned Connelly, and kept on pay for some time 
the rangers who had rallied for the defence of the frontier. 

In 1775, October 20th, a meeting was held at Pittsburgh to sustain the people 
■of New England in their resistance to King George III. of England. There not 
being as yet any newspaper printed in the west, no documentary evidence can be 
quoted as to the facts of this action of the people of the town. This meeting 
must have been a small one, as Isaac Harris, in his Directory of 1837, giving 
some account of the early history of Pittsburgh, says: "In 1775 the number of 
houses within the present bounds of the city did not,' according to the most 
authentic accounts, exceed twenty-five or thirty." 

In 1776 Messrs. Gibson and Linn, the latter the grandfather of Dr. Linn, at 
one time a Senator of the United States for Missouri, descended^the river from 
Pittsburgh to New Orleans to procure military stores for the troops at the former 
place. They completely succeeded in their hazardous enterprise, and brought 
back a cargo of 136 kegs of gunpowder. On reaching the falls of the Ohio on 
their return, in the spring of 1777, they were obliged to unload their boats and 
carry the cargo around the rapids, each of their men carrying three kegs at a 
time on their back. The powder was delivered in Wheeling, and afterwards 
transported to Fort Pitt. 

In 1777 was began at Pittsburgh that branch |of the mechanic arts which, 
through its increase, made the city the famous boat building center it became. On 
the 23d of February fourteen carpenters and surveyors came to Pittsburgh from 
Philadelphia, and were set at work a few miles above the fort building a batteaux 
to transport troops. In the spring of 1778 General Mcintosh, with regulars and 
militia from Fort Pitt, descended the Ohio and built Fort Mcintosh on the 
site of the town of Beaver. 

In January, 1778, there was almost a famine at Fort Pitt, bacon being one 
dollar a pound, and flour sixteen dollars a barrel. 



20 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

In 1780 General Brodhead, who was distinguished as a daring partisan officer^ 
charged with the defence of this part of the frontier, made Fort Pitt his head- 
quarters. One of his principal aids was Captain Samuel Brady, the renowned 
'' Indian killer," as he was called. Pittsburgh was the point of this scout's de- 
parture in many of his adventurous expeditions, but none of his exploits occurred 
in the territory now Allegheny or Westmoreland counties. Simon Girty, the 
famous ally of the Indians, and a British scout and leader in many of the Indian 
inroads, also made Allegheny County one of his haunts when not out scouting 
and had a half brother, named John Turner, who lived on what was called 
Squirrel Hill, Twenty-second ward of Pittsburgh, whom Girty often visited. 

In 1781 General Irvine superceded General Brodhead in command of Fort 
Pitt, and continued until the peace of 1783. He enjoyed to a very high degree 
the confidence of General Washington. It was about this time that projects were 
discussed at Fort Pitt of colonizing the section of country now the State of Ohio. 
General Irvine entertained the idea that something more than colonization was 
intended, and wrote at length to General Washington touching the matter from 
Fort Pitt, under date of April 20th, 1782. 

The public mind seemed at that date not yet to have realized that the acquired 
independence of the American colonies was the formation of a new government, 
which would exercise governmental authority over the whole territory, and had 
therein rights of eminent domain. 

Grasping the idea fully that all allegiance was abrogated to the crown of Great 
Britain, they did not realize that it was or should be transferred to the United 
States. 

While realizing the territorial rights and control of the United States, and 
prepared to respect their laws within their bounds, the frontier population looked 
upon the whole Indian country to the west of the forks of the Ohio as free land. 
It is not difficult to realize how such an idea in a crude shape took hold of the 
popular mind on the frontier, and did possibly with some restless and ambitious 
persons incite the scheme of self-aggrandizement which General Irvine hints at in 
his letter. While accepting as a Nation the federation of the thirteen State?, 
they considered the governmental right of England on this continent abrogated, 
and looked upon the Indian territory as of a foreign nation, which, being conquered 
by a combination of individual forces, belonged to the victors, and any State or 
government was independent of the United States, on the same principle as the 
thirteen colonies became so of Great Britain. 

Whether there were such schemes or ambitions there is no documentary evi- 
dence to show, other than General Irvine's letter, but it is evident from that that 
there was a spirit of restlessness which, under the moulding of ambitious men, 
might have led to such ends. 

The subjoined extract from his letter, dated Fort Pitt, April 20th, 1782, shows 
the state of public sentiment : 



EARLY HISTORY. 21 

"I arrived here the 25th of March. At that time things were in greater con- 
fusion than can well be conceived. The country people were in a state of frenzy, 
about three hundred had returned from the Moravian towns, where they found 
about ninety men, women and children, all of whom they put to death, it is said, 
after cool deliberation and considering the matter three days. * * -h- * 

" On their return a party came and attacked a few Delaware Indians, who have 
yet remained with us, on a small island close by this garrison. Killed two who 
had captains' commissions in our service and several others. The remainder 
eiiected their escape from the fort, except two, who ran into the woods and have 
not since been heard of. * * ^ * This last outrage was committed the day 
before I arrived. Nothing of this nature has been attempted since. 

"A number of strong-headed men had conceived the opinion that Colonel 
-Gibson was a friend of the Indians, and that he must be killed also. These trans- 
actions, added to the mutinous disposition of the regular troops, had nearly 
brought on the loss of the whole country. 

"I am confident that if this fort was evacuated the boundaries of Canada 
would be extended to Laurel Hill in a few weeks. 

" Civil authority is by no means established in this country, which proceeds in 
some degree, I doubt not, from the inattention of the executives of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania not running the boundary line, which is at present an excuse for 
■the neglect of duty of all kinds, for at least twenty miles on each side of the line. 
More evils will arise from this than people are aware of. 

"Emigration and new States are much talked of. Advertisements are set up 
announcing a day to assemble at Wheeling for all those who wish to become mem- 
bers of a new vState on the Muskingum. A certain J is at the head of this 

party. He is ambitious, restless, and some say disaffected, and most people agree 
he is open to corruption. He has been in England since the beginning of the 
present war. Should these people actually emigrate, they must either be entirely 
<}ut off or immediately take protection from the British, which I fear is the real 
design of some of the party." 

From this it is evident that at and around Fort Pitt schemes were projected 
to acquire territory by driving the Indians from the Muskingum region and there 
erect a new State independent of the federation under British protection if nec- 
essary. 

One year after this a glimpse of the town, in an extract printed in Neville B. 
■Craig's "History of Pittsburgh," is afforded, from the journal of Arthur Lee, who, 
under date of December 24th, 1784, writes : " Pittsburgh is inhabited almost en- 
tirely by Scotts and Irish, who live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as in the 
north of Ireland, or even Scotland." It should be noted that Mr. Lee had been 
a commissioner Avith Dr. Franklin and Silas Dean to the court of Versailles, and 
fresh from the elegance of the French court the rudeness of the frontier towns 
were not congenial to his fastidious tastes. Mr. Lee also writes : " There is a 
.:great deal of small trade carried on, the goods being brought at a vast expense of 
forty-five shillings per cwt, from Philadelphia and Baltimore. There are in the 
town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion — no church, 
no chapel." H. H. Breckenridge, James Boss, Alexander Addison and John 
Wood were those four lawyers. Dr. Nathaniel Bedford v.as one of the doctors, 
and Doctor Stevenson possibly the other. One John Wilkins, a Quaker, who vis- 



22 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

ited Pittsburgh in 1803, wrate of it that: "All sorts of wickedness were carried 
on to excess, and there was no appearance of morality or regular order." 

These assertions of the writers quoted are somewhat modified by the fact that 
as early as 1754 French priests gave religious services to the French soldiers and 
the Indians. While in 1758, the Eev. Charles Beatj^ preached to the settlers and 
was followed by the Eev. Duffield. In 1782, the Eev. Wilhelra Weber founded 
the first church of the German United Evangelical Protestant denomination in 
the west. This is probably the Dutch church that H. H, Breckenbridge in his 
''Eecollections" thus makes mention of, "At that time to which I allude, the plain 
was entirely unencumbered by buildings or enclosures except the Dutch churck, 
w^hich stood aloof from the haunts of men." This church, far from the haunts of 
men, w^as on the corner of what is now Sixth avenue and Smithfield street, where 
the elegant church, the successor of the little log church, now stands. 

In 1784, the Eev. James Power preached at Fort Pitt by order of the Eedstone- 
Presbytery, and in 1786, the Eev. Samuel Barr was prominently located at Pitts- 
burgh. 

In 1784, Mr. French Francis, as agent for the Penns, made arrangements to laj 
out the Manor of Pittsburgh in tOAvn lots, and out lots, with orders to sell them 
without delay. 

In May of that year, Mr. George Woods, an experienced surveyor, arrived 
from Bedford, bringing with him Thomas Vickroy, for whom Vickroy street in 
Pittsburgh is named, to assist him. In January, 1784, the first sale of lots in the 
town of Pittsburgh were made to Stephen Bayard and Isaac Craig by John Penn 
and John Penn, Jr. This might be considered the beginning of the town of 
Pittsburgh. As the plan of 1764 was called " a military plan," and the settlers^ 
upon the lots did so under tacit permission of the commander of the fort, without 
having however any legal title to their lots. The 29th of July, 1786, is a date in the 
history of Allegheny County of special note. On that day was issued the first num- 
ber of " The Pittsburgh Gazette,'^ and the first newspaper west of the mountains,. 
John Scull and Joseph Hall, having embarked their little capital in what must 
have seemed a most hazardous venture. John Scull was the descendant of Nicolas 
Scully a member of the Society of Friends, who came from Bristol, England, and 
landed at Chester, Pa., September 10th, 1665. The founder of the Gazette was a 
son of Nicolas Scull, 2d. He was born 1765, and was but twenty-one years of age 
when he came to Pittsburgh, in 1786. He was the first post naster of Pittsburgh, 
and president of the second bank, (the Farmers Mechanic,) established at Pitts- 
burgh; also one of the incorporators of the Western University of Pennsylvania. 

It is of interest to note that the Gazette was printed on a Eamage press, brought 
across the mountains by wagon. This press was so small that but one page of the 
Gazette, about 10x16, could be printed at a time, taking, therefore, four impressions- 
to produce a copy, and occupying about ten hours to produce seven hundred copies. 
The contrast between then and now is strikingly illustrated by the press now ir* 
use by the Gazette, wliich throws off 15,000 copies in one hoar. 



EARLY HISTORY. ' 23 

The preceding accounts that have been given of the size and general charac- 
teristics of the town, at the time Avhen Messrs, Scull and Hall determined on 
publishing this first newspaper west of the mountains, were not such as, at the 
present day, would offer inducements to embark in a newspaper business, as 
according to " Niks Register,^' volume 3d,^age 436, there were but thirty six log 
houses,. one stone, one frame, and five small stores. The county was as sparsely 
settled as the town, and no mail routes. 

Mr. Scull came to Pittsburgh with the purpose of establishing a paper as an 
advocate of Washington and the Federal party. Considering the limited local 
patronage that could be reasonably expected then from the vicinity, it is not an 
unreasonable supposition that at that early day, as party virulence was as great as 
now, the Gazette did not depend altogether on purely local support for its rev- 
enues. The Gazette, however, prospered. 

It is worthy of note that the first book published west of the mountains was 
printed at the Gazette office, being the third volume of Judge H. H. Bracken- 
ridge's " Modern Chivalry," issued in 1793. The first two volumes were printed 
in Philadelphia. The last and fourth volumes not being published until 1797 at 
Philadelphia, having been delayed by charges brought against its author relative 
to his action in the " Whisky Insurrection." This book, a humorous and satirical 
work, abounding with political and philosophical views, under the guise of pleas- 
antry, was the cause of much bitter feeling between the Breckenridge and Craig 
families, because of supposed resemblance of some of the characters to members 
of the Craig family. 

The publication of this paper, as has always been the case where newspapers 
have been established in communities, soon began to have its influence in the 
development of the town. The first of which was the establishment of a post or 
mail from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Avhich "was done in the fall of 1786, John 
Scull being appointed Postmaster. The duties could not have been very exacting, 
as four years later the postages of the year ending Oct. 1st, 1790, were but $110.90. 
John Scull retired from the publication of the Gazette in 1818, and died at his 
residence, near what is now Irwin station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, February 
8th, 1828, aged sixty-three years. On Mr. Scull's retirement from the Go.zette, his 
son, John Irvin Scull, succeeded in the control of the paper. He died in his 
thirty-seventh year, at Brush Hill, Westmoreland county. 

In 1786, despite the disparaging accounts the several persons previously 
quoted have given of the social characteristics of the inhabitants of the town at 
and previous to that date, there seems to have been inducements to have estab- 
lished a school or seminary for young ladies. A Mrs. Pride, in an advertisement 
in the Pittsburgh Gazette, dated November 10th, 1786, announces that she will 
open a boarding and day school "in the house where John Gibbon formerly lived, 
behind his stone house, where there will be taught the following branches of 
needle-work." This was not the first school in Pittsburgh, however, as in Decem- 
ber, 1764, James Kinney, a Quaker, writes in liis journal: "Many of ye inhab- 



24 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

itants have hired a school-master and subscribed above sixty pounds for this year 
for him. He has about twenty scholars. Ye soberer sort of people seem to long 
for some public way of worship, so ye school-master reads the Litany and common 
prayer on ye First Day." 

In 1786-87 the Pittsburgh Acadeniy was chartered, which subsequently be- 
came the Western University in 1819. 

In 1786 the settlement of Elizabeth was made by Colonel Stephen Bayard, 
who brought a company of ship-carpenters from Philadelphia and began the 
building of vessels at that point two years later. 

Previous to this, in October, 1785, Samuel Walker and Elizabeth Springer, his 
wife, who had emigrated from Wilmington, Delaware, with their six children, 
reached the west side of the Monongahela river at Macfarland's Ferry, within 
half a mile of the Virginia Court House, two miles from the present town of 
Elizabeth, and settled on the lands owned by Captain Henry Heth. It was at this 
point that John Walker ferried across the river, from the east to the west side, the 
whole of Morgan's army, sent in November, 1794, to suppress the Whisky Insur- 
rection. 

In 1787, September 27th, was incorporated the First Presbyterian Church of 
Pittsburgh, a movement possibly quickened by " the longing of the soberer sort of 
people for some public way of worship." 

Previously, on September 24th, 1787, the Penn heirs deeded two and a half 
lots of ground to the congregation, who at once proceeded to erect a building of 
squared logs, the site being the same where now stands the beautiful stone build- 
ing of the First Presbyterian Church. On the 1st of March of this year, at a 
public meeting of citizens, Hugh Boss, Stephen Bayard and Rev. Samuel Barr 
were appointed a committee to report a plan for establishing market days, and 
they reported on March 12th, at an adjourned meeting. 

Soon after this the first market-house in Pittsburgh was built near the corner 
of Market and Second streets. 



CHAPTER II. 
From 1788 to 1794 



On the 24th of September, 1788, Allegheny County was organized, being taken 
from Westmoreland County. In 1789 a small addition was made from Washington 
County. It then comprised all the territory north and west of the Ohio and 
Allegheny from what was taken by Act of March 12th, 1800, Beaver, Butltr and 
Mercer Counties. Previous to September 24th, 1788, the area now embraced in 
tiie bounds of Allegheny were, as before stated, in Westmoreland County, and the 
county seat was at Hannahtown, thirty miles distant from Pittsburgh. This 



EARLY HISTORY. 25 

caused much dissatisfaction to the inhabitants at and around Pittsburgh, resulting 
in the County of Allegheny being set ofl' from Westmoreland and Washington 
Counties. 

By the Act Pittsburgh was made the seat of justice temporarily until trustees, 
who were named in the Act, should construct suitable public buildings on the re- 
served tract opposite Pittsburgh, on the public square in the town of Allegheny. 
This town was ordered to be laid out by the Supreme Executive Committee of the 
.Commonwealth September 11th, 1787. This project of locating the county seat 
in Allegheny town was so strongly opposed by the citizens of Pittsburgh that in 
the spring of 1788 a supplementary Act was passed, authorizing the trustees to 
purchase ground on the Pittsburgh side of the river for public buildings, which 
was done. 

The trustees selected the Diamond Square, where the market-house now 
stands, for the site of the court-house and jail. 

There seemed to be some reason for the opposition of the citizens of Pittsburgh 
to the location of the public buildings of the county on the north side of the 
river, in the uninviting topography of the land there, as the following extract 
from a report of D. Redick, dated February 19th, 1788, to the Supreme Executive 
Committee, would indicate : " I went with several gentlemen to fix on a spot for 
laying out the town opposite Pittsburgh, and at the same time took a general view 
of the tract, and find it far inferior to my expectations, although I had thought I 
had been no stranger to it. There is some pretty low ground on the rivers Ohio 
and Allegheny, but there is but a small portion of dry land which appears in 
any way suitable either for timber or soil, but especially for soil ; it abounds in 
high hills and deep hollows, almost inaccessible to a surveyor. I am of the 
opinion that if the inhabitants of the moon are capable of seeing the same ad- 
vantages from the earth which we do from that world, I say if it is so, this same 
famed tract of land would offer a variety of beautiful lunar spots not unworthy 
the eye of a philosopher. I cannot think that ten-acre lots on such pits and hills 
will possibly meet with a purchaser, unless, like a pig in a poke, it be kept from 
view." 

Mr. Eeddick seems to have considered it rather a joke that any one could have 
supposed the area where Allegheny City, with its 100,000 population, now stands, 
could ever be available for a town. 

His opinion of his own judgment now, could he revisit the " glimpse of the 
moon," and survey the pits and hills, would probably be as poor as it was in 1788 
of the reserve tract on which he was selected to lay out the town of Allegheny, 

Arthur Lee, previously quoted, who, in 1784, wrote in his journal of Pitts- 
burgh, " I believe the place will never be considerable," and Mr. Reddick seem, 
from their recorded opinion, to have been twins in their judgment. To the con- 
trary, the opinions of two oiher persons are quoted here. In a volume printed at 
Dublin, Ireland, 1789, the author writes: "Pittsburgh is a neat, handsome town, 
containing about four hundred houses. ^ ^" * It is expected the town will, in a 



26 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

fev: years, become the emporium of the western country.'" A writer in the Pittsburgh 
Gazette, of August, 1789, writing of the cost of the carriage of goods, says : "How- 
ever important tlie conveyance may be, and by whatever channel, the importation 
of heavy articles will still be expensive; the manufacturing of them, therefore, 
icill become more of an object here than elseivhereP In the previous year another 
glimpse of Pittsburgh is caught from the journal of Dr. Hildreth, who arrived at 
the town on a boat called the "Mayflower," with a company of four hundred emi- 
grants from New England, in progress to Marietta, Ohio. 

After giving a statement of the starting of the "Mayflower" from Robbstown, 
now West Newton, and the passage down the Youghiogheny and Monongahela, 
Dr. Hildreth writes : " Pittsburgh contains from four to five hundred inhabitants, 
several retail stores, and a small garrison of troops kept in old Fort Pitt. To our 
travelers, who had lately seen nothing but trees and rocks, with here and there a 
solitary hut ; it seemed quite a large town. The houses are chiefly built of logs, 
but now and then one has assumed the appearance of neatness and comfort." 

While from the verbal pictures of Fort Pitt, or Pittsburgh, at that early day 
by Lee, W^ilkens and others, the impression is made that the social surroundings 
of the town were of a very bad type, even for a frontier town, yet as there were two 
sides to the famous shield of legendary dispute, one black and the other silver, so 
it was with the social elements of Pittsburgh. The various armies of Forbes, 
Stanwix and Boquet, had many educated and polished gentlemen, as well as the 
detachments of the Federal troops, who were garrisoned at longer or shorter 
periods at Fort Pitt ; and some were accompanied by their families, by whom the 
habits and elegancies of society were practiced in their social intercourse and their 
hospitalities to travellers. Especially after the Revolutionary war a number of 
families of high culture, those of officers of the Federal army and members of 
the bar in eastern counties were attracted to Pittsburgh, and formed the nucleus of 
a coterie which was naturally not without its aristocratic coloring and, conse- 
quently, social atmosphere. For although a revolution had been made against 
the government of Great Britain, it Avas not, in its inception, with a view of estab- 
lishing a democracy in the sense the word is now popularly construed, but simply 
a government, independent of Great Britain, which might have become, under 
certain mouldings, anotlier monarchy. 

The writings and history of the times are not without indications that the 
Republican form of government was the second sober thought of the people, and 
not without its opposers. 

Fort Pitt had, through the period from 1754 up to 1788, also become a center to 
which had drifted adventurers of all types, Indian traders, hunters, trappers, scouts, 
desperate men of various nationalities, the followers of the various armies, either 
French, English or Federal, with an admixture of half breeds. The society of 
Pittsburgh was thus strongly marked with a dividing line, where on the one half, 
all the coarseness, wickedness, and illiteracy of the mixed elements of nationalities 
were, and on tlie other, mental culture, good breeding, and aristocratic tendencies. 



EARLY HISTORY. 27 

Personal habits and social customs, even in what may be called the higher class of 
society in the frontier town, were looser and freer than grew to be the custom, and 
naturally gave still greater license and coarseness to the inhabitants of a lower 
grade of training. These latter would seem to have been the populace, from 
which the character of the town was judged, for the reason that to the social 
amenities of the better class, as instanced, a casual traveller making a brief stay 
would, probably, have but little admission. H. H. Breckenbridge, in his " Recol- 
lections " says there was at Pittsburgh in that early day, " a degree of refinement,, 
elegance of manners, and polished society not often found in a frontier town. The 
Butlers, the O'Haras, the Craigs, the Kirkpatricks, the Stevensons, the Wilkins,. 
and the Nevilles are names that will long be handed down by tradition. Colonel 
Neville was indeed the model of a perfect gentleman — as elegant in his persoii 
and finished in his manners and education as he was noble and generous in hi& 
feelings. He was, during the Revolution, an aid to General Lafayette, and at the 
close of it married an elegant and accomplished lady, the daughter of the cele- 
brated General Morgan." 

This is quite a reverse picture to that sketched by Arthur Lee at the close of 
1784, where he says, "the town' is inhabited almost entirely by Irish and Scots^ 
who live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as in the north of Ireland, or even 
Scotland." 

As Mr. Lee makes no remarks as to the class of inhabitants of whom Mr. 
Breckenridge makes mention, some of whom were residents of the town at the 
time of Mr. Lee's visit, it is evident that he was not a partaker of their hospitali- 
ties, and it is presumable that the little town of Pittsburgh, while its houses were 
perforce built of logs, contained a large number of people who would have shone 
even in the society of the present day. 

It would seem, however, that there was a similarity in the society of the towrt 
then to peculiarities of society most anywhere at the present day, as the Gazette 
of March 27th, 1789, says: "The usual drawback on the happiness of a village 
society (scandal) has begun to show itself, as there is no regular clergyman settled 
in the town to prevent it." It must, therefore, be concluded that Pittsburgh was- 
in its early days neither better nor worse, so far as its population was concerned,, 
than any similar aggregation of population of those times, and that its descend- 
ants from its old families can be proud of their ancestry, even if the male portion 
did, at times, take a cup too much wine or whisky, bet high on horse races, en- 
courage the selling of lottery tickets to raise revenues for church purposes, and 
sundry and several other departures from the strict codes of morality, under the 
somewhat looser habits of life, the freedom and the custom of the times tacitly 
excused in "gentlemen " 

With the organization of the county in 1788 the town, as a county seat, be- 
came, naturally, more of a center of population, and began to show faint tracings 
of the features of its maturer years. 



23 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Most of the minor incidents of those early days, being more of a personal 
Character than partaking of general public importance or interest, have perished, 
] aving had no record save in the memories of the actors in the scenes of a hun- 
dred years since. 

As to give in a condensed historical form the local developments of Allegheny 
County's Hundred Years is the object of the volume, rather than a recollection of 
individual reminiscences still to be gleaned from fading memories, such occurrences 
only are mentioned as illustrate the county's growth, and are of greater or less pub- 
lic interest abroad as well as at home. The great manufacturing interest of the 
<!Ounty, as better exhibiting their massiveness, and a more compact view of their 
■developments than if scattered through the chronological details of these pages, 
are presented in separate chapters. 

In 1792 Pittsburgh was the point of organization of General Wayne's (Mad 
Anthony) expedition to the nortli-west territory, and liis troops departed from the 
town on the 27th of December of that year. All through the previous summer 
Pittsburgh had been a camp of instruction. After leaving Fort Pitt General 
Wayne encamped for tlie winter seven miles above the mouth of Beaver creek. 
Wayne's expedition belongs to the military history of the north-western territory, 
Tather than to Allegheny County, and is mentioned in connection with its history 
because of its being the point of preparation for the expedition. 

At this time Allegheny County became in part the scene of the occurrences of 
-a revolt against the Federal government, which was viewed with much apprehen- 
sion by the authorities of the nation. The Federal government was but newly 
organized, and its powers and rights were but little understood. 

As early as 1756 the Province of Pennsylvania had looked to an excise on 
spirits for revenue. During the revolution the law was in the west generally 
evaded, and after being for years a dead letter was repealed. When the debts of 
the revolution became pressing, Congress, on March 3d, 1791, passed a similar law. 
Opposition was at once begun in the western counties. The inhabitants of that 
region, descended from the people of Korth P^ritain or Scotland and Ireland, had 
come very honestly by their love of whisky and their hatred of an excise man, 
Tlie insurgents were following, as they believed, the same right under which the 
colonies had revolted from England, and made j)rotest against and resistance to an 
oppressive excise law or tax. At that day there was nothing disreputable in mak- 
ing whisky or in drinking it. Distilling was then considered as moral and respect- 
able as any other business. There was neither home nor foreign market for. rye> 
their principal crop. The grain would not bear transportation by pack-horses 
across the mountains. Four bushels was a load for a horse, but he could carry in 
the form of whisky twenty -four bushels. To pay for iron and salt and sugar the 
farmers of Western Pennsylvania sent their whisky on pack-horses over the 
•mountains. The people had for years, at the peril of their lives, cultivated the 
.ground on which their rye was grown with but little or no protection from the 
government. The law laid a tax of four pence per gallon on distilled spirits. 



EARLY HISTORY. 29' 

The people looked upon this law as unjust taxation and as restraining them from 
doing what they pleased with any surplus rye they might raise. The members of 
Congress from Western Pennsylvania firmly opposed the law. Smily, of Fayette, 
and Findley, of Westmoreland, openly condemned it. Even Albert Gallitin, then 
a resident of Fayette county, opposed the law by all constitutional means. It was 
difficult to obtain any one who would accept the office of collector of the tax. To 
quiet the opposition General John Neville, then residing a short distance from 
Pittsburgh, was prevailed upon to accept the office. He was a man of great per- 
sonal popularity, possessing much wealth, and had put his all on the hazzard of 
the revolution for independence. At his own expense he raised and equiped a 
company of soldiers, marched them to Boston, and placed them, with his son, un- 
der the command of General Washington. He was brother-in-law to General 
Morgan and father-in-law to Majors Craig and Kirkpatrick, who were highly re- 
spected throughout the western country. If any coidd enforce the odious law he, 
it was thought, could. 

The public mind was, however, too highly inflamed to be soothed even under 
the representations of as popular a man as General Neville. The first public 
meeting was held at Bedstone Old Fort, now Brownsville, on July 27th, 1791. 
On September 7 delegates from the four counties met at Pittsburgh and passed 
resolutions against the law. On the 6th of September a party waylaid a collector 
for Allegheny and Washington and tarred and feathered him. In October a 
person of w^eak intellect, named Wilson, who affected to be an excise man, was 
tarred and feathered and burned with hot irons. On the 15th of September the 
President issued a proclamation enjoining all persons to submit to the law and 
desist from unlawful proceedings. In April, 1793, a party in disguise attacked at 
night the house of Benj. Wells, a collector of Fayette County. On the 22d of 
November they again attacked his house^ and compelled him to surrender his 
commission and books, and to resign his office. In July, 1794, many other out- 
rages were committed, houses and stills burned. Also in June several serious riots 
occurred, in which collectors of excise were maltreated in various ways. During 
these turmoils a term had come into popular use, to designate the opponents to the 
excise laws, wlio were called "Tom Tinkers" men. The first application of the 
term is stated to have originated at the destruction of a still, which was cut to 
pieces. This was called mending the still, and humorously the members must be 
of course, called "Tinkei's," and thus "Tom Tinkers" men. The term is said to 
have originated with one John Holcroft, who was one of the chief leaders of the 
insurrection, and understood to be the person called " Tom the Tinker." All the 
proclamations of the insurgents were signed with that designation. "Tom the 
Tinker" was the pseudonyme used either by Holcroft or an attorney called Daniel 
Bradford, who was admitted to the Bar of Allegheny County in 1788, who seems 
to have been, during part of the insurrection, the chief or general, while Holcroft 
seems to have been second in command. Although the law was modified by Con- 
gress in 1694, it was still odious. The consequence was that the disturbances still 



30 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

increased, and on the 16th of July the house of General Neville, seven miles 
riouthwest of Pittsburgh, was attacked and burned, several persons being killed 
and wounded. Various meetings of the insurgents were held at different places, 
and in July, 1794, a large number of men assembled at Braddocks, to the amount, 
it is said, of 7,000 men, many in organized companies under arms, for the purpose 
of attacking Pittsburgh. The insurrectionary feeling had now reached its height* 
A word in favor of the law was ruin to any one. On the contrary, to talk 
against the law was the way to office and personal popularity and profit. At 
the assemblage at Braddocks, when it was proposed by David Bradford, who was 
present as major general, in full uniform, that the troops should go to Pitts- 
burgh, Hugh M. Breckenridge, who had joined the movement to control, and, if 
possible, quell it by diplomacy, and in whose writings a full account of the whole 
matter is to be found, said : " Yes, by all means, at least give proof that the 
strictest order can be maintained, and no damage done. We will just march 
through the town and take a turn, come out on the plain on the banks of the 
Monongahela, and after taking a little whisky with the inhabitants, the troops 
will embark and cross the river." This was accomplished, and no damage but 
the burning of one barn done. "The people," says Mr. Breckenridge, "were 
mad. It never came into my head to use force on the occasion; I thought it 
safest to give good words and good drink on the occasion rather than powder and 
balls. It cost me four barrels of good whisky that day, and I would rather spare 
that than a quart of blood." 

On the 14th of August a meeting of 260 delegates was held at Parkinson Ferry, 
now Monongahela City. Albert Gallatin and H. M. Breckenridge both took 
prominent p "'•t in the discussion. The original force of the insurrection was 
condensed down to a committee of 60, which was to be represented by an execu- 
tive committee of 12, who were to confer with the U. S. Commissioners. To gain 
time, and thus restore quietness, was the object of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Brecken- 
ridge and their friends. The Commissioners proposed an amnesty, which, at a 
meeting held at Redstone Fort, August 28, was accepted through the arguments 
of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Breckenridge. This meeting virtually ended the insur- 
rection, although there were enough malcontents left to render it necessary, in the 
opinion of the President, to send an army of 15,000 men to Pittsburgh, under 
General Lee. The army arrived in Pittsburgh in November, but met with no 
opposition, nor was any blood shed. The army soon returned to their homes ; 
General Daniel Morgan being left with a few battalions to maintain quiet during 
the winter, and in the spring, order being fully restored, those were withdrawn. 

With the army came also General Knox, the Secretary of War, General 
Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Judge Peters, of the U. S. Court. 
An inquisitorial court was held at Pittsburgh, in which testimony was taken 
against citizens denounced for treasonable acts or expressions. Only two were 
tiied and convicted, and those afterwards pardoned. Mr. Br&^kenridge was in 
personal danger from his course in the insurrection, having been denounced as one 



EARLY HISTORY. 31 

of its leaders. He had taken an active part in the meetings of the insurgents, 
but his motive, which was to get hold of the counsels of the insurgents, and 
thereby, as he did, bring the enmity to a peaceable end, had been understood by 
the Hon. James Ross from the first, and he was, after examination, honorably 
acquitted. Although David Bradford, H. H. Br^kenridge and Albert Gallatin 
are, in general accounts of this formidable insurrection, prominent, many other of 
the leading citizens of the town and country took active part in the private and 
public movements, and at a public meeting held to take action in the matter, 
General John Gibson, a revolutionary soldier, nicknamed Horse-head Gibson, was 
the chairman ; Matthew Ernest, secretary; H. H. Brepkenridge, Peter Audrian, 
George Robinson, George McMasters, John Wilkins, Andrew Mclntyre, George 
Wallace, John Irwin, Andrew Watson, George Adams, David Evans, Josiali 
Tannehill, William Earle, Andrew McMickle, James Clow, William Gormley 
and Nathaniel Irish were sympathizers with the opposition to the excise. With 
the government were Major Isaac Craig, Judge Alexander Addison, Major Kirk- 
patrick, General John Neville, Colonel William Butler, James O'Hara, Ebenezer 
Denny, John Ormsby. 

This insurrection, coming so soon after the adoption of the Constitution, caused 
great foreboding in the public mind as to the permanency of the Republican form of 
government. President Washington and his cabinet were much disturbed as to the 
course to pursue. Seven counties were in actual revolt against the laws enacted 
by Congress and defying the government. At a meeting held at Brownsville, at 
which the standing committee of the insurgents were to hold a conference with the 
Federal commissioners who had been appointed in a final attempt at pacification, 
a flag was raised by the insurgents with seven stars, one for each ^confederate 
county, as the standard of what was looked upon by many as an incipient govern- 
ment, to be ultimately declared independent of the United States. Recurring to 
the despotism evinced by discontented, corrupt and ambitious men, of whom 
General Irwine wrote in his letter to General Washington, of April 20th, 1782^ 
already quoted from, there is ground for the suspicion that while the whiskey tax 
was with the public general the motive of resistance to governmental authority, 
there may have been fomenting the insurrection the same element at work thiit 
General Irwin alludes to, to effect a separation from the United States and tiie 
establishment of an independent State under British protection if necessary. As 
before observed. President Washington and his cabinet were greatly exercised by 
the condition of public sentiment. 

That they looked upon it as no ordinary exhibition of merely dissatisfaction 
with an Act of Congress, but as an organized rebellion, was manifest from the 
large army, the tried generals sent to restore order, and the large expense incurred 
so doing. The expenditure costing over one and a half millions of dollars 
when, at that time, the annual expenditure of the whole government was only about 
four millions. 

The jealousies that remained from the Revolution prevailed to a greater or less 
degree with the public men, in civil life as well as in the army, the disappointed 



32 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

ambitions, the lingering Tory elements, and the crude conceptions among the 
people, especially in the frontier towns, of the powers and rights of a Republican 
government, made possible many complications. It was felt necessary to assert the 
supremacy of the Federal government in a decisive manner, and show the people 
of the infant nation that a strong and genuine government had been established 
and could be maintained, and thus put an end to any such ideas and schemes a& 
Washington had been informed of by General Irwine, and seem to be incipient in 
the Whiskey Insurrection. 

In connection with this historical incident, it is of curious interest that a mas& 
meeting held at Pittsburgh, August 21st, 1792, of which Albert Gallitin was 
secretary, and as such signed the proceedings, the following resolution was 
passed denouncing the conduct of persons in accepting commissions to collect the 
whiskey tax, " Resolved, that in future we will consider such persons as unworthy 
of our friendship, have no intercourse with them, withdraw from them every 
assistance, withhold all the comforts of life which depend upon those duties which 
as fellow citizens we owe each other, and upon all occasions to treat them with that 
contempt they deserve, and that it be, and is hereby most earnestly recommended 
to the people at large to follow the same line of conduct towards them." Here is 
a vigorous threat of " boycotting " long before the word found a place in the 
English vocabulary, and as eminent authority as Albert Gallitin to justify the 
action. It is rather a saddening reflection that nearly a hundred years after the 
progress of civilization and education, the establishment of over two hundred 
churches at Pittsburgh should have made no change in the methods of men who 
are carried away by personal passions, and quite as savage boycott proclamations 
and resolutions were published in the city in the 1880ties, as when from the 
frontier habits of thought and action that prevailed in 1792-4, such thoughts and 
proposed actions were to be expected. The subjoined verses which were published 
during the Whiskey Insurrection are a relishable bit of local literature to be 
quoted, as illustrative of the sentim.ents of the time. 

Great Pow'r, that warms the heart and liver. 
And puts the bluid a' in a fever, 
If dull and heartless I am ever, 

A blast o' thee 
Makes me as blyth, and brisk, and clever 

As any bee. 

I wat ye are a cunning chiel, 
O' a' your tricks I ken fu' weel,' 
For aft ye hae gien me a heel. 

And thrown me down. 
When I shook hands wi' hearts so leel, 

Ye wily loun. 



EARLY HISTORY. 

When fou o' tiiee on Scottish grun', 
At fairs I've aft' had muckle fun, 
An' on my head wi' a guid rung, 

Gat mony a crack : 
An' mony a braw chiel in my turn, 

Laid on his back. 

An' here, tho' stick be laid aside. 
An' swankies fight in their bare hide ; 
Let me o' thee ance get a swig, 

I'll tak my part, 
An' bite, and , and gouge and tread 

Wi' a' my heart. 

Great strength'ning pow'r, without thy aid 
How could log heaps be ever made ? 
To tell the truth, I'm sair afraid, 

('Twixt ye and me) 
We want a place to lay your head, 

Hadn't been for thee. 

But when the chiels are fou' o' thee> 
Och ? how they gar their axes flee, 
Then God hae mercy on the tree, 

For they hae nane, 
Ye'd think (the timber gaes so free) 

It rase its lane. — 

Without thee how cou'd grass be mawn ? 
Grain shear'd, and into barn-yards drawn ? 
An' when auld wives wi' faces thrawn 

Ly in the strae, 
I doubt, gin ye were nae at had', 

There'd be great wae. 

But it wou'd tak a leaf and mair 
To tell o' a' your virtues rare; 
At wedding, gossipping and fair, 

Baith great and sma' 
Look unco dowff if ye'r na there, 

Great soul o' a'. 

Then foul befa' the ungratefu' deil 
That wou'd begrudge to pay right weel. 
For a' the blessings that ye yiel 

In sic a store ; 
I'd nae turn round upo' my heel 

For saxpence more. 



34 . ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

They were wiitten by David Bruce, who came from Maryland in 1784, and 
settled near where Burgettstown now is, in Washington County. 

These lines were published in the Western Telegraph, printed at Washington, 
Pa. This and other poems, together with replies by H. H. Breckenridge, under 
7107)1 de plume, were published in or about 1801, in a volume now rare. 



CHAPTEE III. 
From 1794 to 1811. 



With the final settlement of the " Whisky Insurrection," Pittsburgh began to 
fall into city shape, if the expression may be allowed. In 1794 the Act was 
passed April 22d incorporating the town of Pittsburgh into a borough. The first 
court-house and jail were completed; the Eagle Fire Engine Company was organ- 
ized, and a line of boats to carry passengers between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati 
M^ere started, of which a further account is subsequently given in the chapter 
treating of the ship and boat building at the former city. In 1795 the lumber 
trade of Pittsburgh had its inception by the action of Major Thomas Butler, then 
commanding at Franklin. He had been informed that the Seneca Chief, Gyanta- 
wachia, or Cornplanter, as he was caUed by the English, had at his saw-mill a 
large quantity of boards. Major Butler dispatched and sent one Marcus Hulings, 
with three bags of money, to buy the lumber. He also sent James Beard with a 
letter to Cornplanter to inform him of Hulings' mission. The following reply 
from Cornplanter is given from Craig's Olden Time : 

"Genesadego, 3d December, 1791. 
"I thank the States for making me such kind ofers. We have made peace 
with the United States as long as watter runs, which was the reason that I built a 
mill in order to support my family by it. More so because I am getting old and 
not able to hunt. ^ I also thank the States for the pleashure I now feel in meeting 
them again in friendship. You have sent a man to make a bargain with me for 
a sertain time which I do not lick to do ; but as long as my miU makes boards the 
United States shaU have them in preference to any other, at the market price, and 
when you want no more boards I can't make blankets of them. As for the money 
you sent, if I have not boards to the amount, leave it and I will pay it in boards 
in the spring." 

This famous Indian chief is frequently mentioned in connection with the busi- 
ness of Pittsburgh in its earlier days, and he was often a resident of the town. It 
is said he at times spent a winter with his family in the city, occuping the base- 
ment cellar of a house on Irwin street (now Seventh), below Penn. The traffic of 
the Pittsburgh merchants with the Indians of Cornplanter's tribe in the earlier 
days seems to have been then an important element in the business of the town. 
Of this H. H. Breckenridge says in his " Eecollections :" ''Who would imagine 



EABLY HISTORY. 35 

that the arrival and encampment of the Cornplanter Indians on the bank of the 
Allegheny would make a great stir among our merchants. It was quite a cheering 
sight, and one that made brisk times, to see the squaws coming in with their packs 
on their backs." 

Cornplanter was born at Cenewaigus, on the Genesee river, and was a half- 
breed, the son of a white trader named John O'Blail. When about twenty years 
of age he was allied with the French, and was in the engagement of Braddock's 
Field. During the revolution he was an Indian~chief of high rank, and partici- 
pated in the principal Indian engagements against the United States. He was on 
the war path with Brandt during General Sulivan's campaign in 1779, and in the 
following year he led the Senecas in an inroad through the Mohawk Valley. On 
this occasion he took his father prisoner, and making himself known to him, 
offered to provide for him if he chose to remain with the Senecas, or to send him 
back unharmed if he desired to return, which latter course he chose. Cornplanter 
became the fast friend of the United States when hostilities ceased, and threw ail 
his influence in favor of peace at the treaty of Fort Stanwix and Fort Harmer. 
For his course on those occasions the State of Pennsylvania granted him the reser- 
vation on the Allegheny on which he resided. In^what absolute faith the Seneca 
chief accepted the reservation as a gift is illustrated by an incident. In 1821 the 
commissioners of Warren County assumed the right to tax his property; the old 
chief resisted, considered it not only unlawful, but a personal indignity. When 
the sheriff came with a small posse to enforce the collection of the tax, Corn- 
planter took him and his posse into a room, around which were arrayed about 
one hundred rifles, and with Indian brevity intimated that for each rifle an In- 
dian would come upon the ground at his call if the sheriff did not withdraw. The 
sheriff promptly withdrew, threatening to call out the militia. Prudent citizens, 
fearing a collision, sent for the old chief, and persuaded him to give his note for 
the tax. He, however, addressed a remonstrance to the Governor, asking a return 
of the money and an exemption from tax. This the Legislature granted, and 
sent two commissioners to him to explain the occurrence. 

After peace was fully established between the Indians and the United States 
Cornplanter retired from public life, and devoted his labors to his own people. He 
entertained a high respect and friendship for General Washington, which Wash- 
ington fully reciprocated. When Washington was about retiring from the Presi- 
dency Cornplanter made a special visit to Philadelphia to take leave of him. 

He deplored the evils of intemperance, and exerted himself to suppress it. 
In the war of 1812 Cornplanter took no part, although the Senecas took sides with 
the United States. His son. Major Henry O'Blail, and his intimate friend. Half- 
town, were conspicuous in several battles on the Niagara frontier. Cornplanter 
died at his residence on his reservation March 7th, 1836. He was at all times 
hospitable to emigrants. Mr. James Shidle, who came to Pittsburgh in 1805, 
stopped at Cornplanter's reservation with his family on his way down the Alle- 
gheny, and Avas entertained a night and day by the old chief. Mrs. Shidle, who is 
still living, recalls the incident with pleasure. 



36 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

As the rafting of the lumber down the Allegheny to Pittsburgh continued to 
increase, the Cornplanter Indians were large factors in its transportation, and the 
spring and fall freshets always brought numbers of the tribe in charge of rafts ta 
Pittsburgh. 

Whatever may have been the chief's efforts to suppress intemperance, they 
seemed to be nugatory when once his young men landed their lumber at Pitts- 
burgh. "Fire water" they wanted, and "fire water" they had, and the precincts 
street of old Irwin, now Seventh, and Duquesne way was the scene of many of their 
drunken escapades. 

Up to the present day the lumber rafts that float down the Allegheny have 
among their owners descendants of the old Seneca tribe, who still inhabit the- 
Cornplanter reservation. 

In 1796 another matter of commercial importance to Pittsburgh occurred,, 
through the energy and commercial sagacity of General James O'Hara, by which 
a great revolution was effected in the supplying of salt to Pittsburgh and the 
west. Of this Judge Wilkeson gives the following account : He entered into a 
contract with the government to supply Oswego with provisions, which could then 
be furnished from Pittsburgh cheaper than from the settlements on the Mohawk. 
General O'Hara was a far-sighted calculator ; he had obtained correct information 
in relation to the manufacture of salt at Salina, and in his contract for provision- 
ing the garrison he had in view the supplying of the western country with salt, 
from Onondaga. 

This was a project that few men would have thought of, and fewer undertaken. 
The means of transportation had to be created on the whole line ; boats and teams 
had to be provided to get the salt from the works to Oswego ; a vessel built to 
transport it to the landing below the falls; wagons procured to carry it to 
Schlosser ; then boats constructed to carry it to Black Rock. There another vessel 
was required to transport it to Erie. The road to the head of French creek had 
to be improved and the salt carried in wagons across the portage ; and, finally^ 
boats provided to float it to Pittsburgh. It required no ordinary sagacity and per- 
severance to give success to this speculation. General O'Hara, however, could 
execute as well as plan. He packed his flour and provisions in barrels suitable for 
salt. These were reserved in his contract. 

Arrangements were made with the manufacturers and the necessary advances 
paid to secure a supply of salt. Two vessels were built, one on Lake Erie and 
one on Lake Ontario ; and the means of transportation on all the various sections 
of the line were secured. The plan fully succeeded, and salt of a pretty fair 
quality was delivered at Pittsburgh and sold at four dollars per bushel, just half the 
price of the salt obtained by packing across the mountains. The vocation of the 
packers was gone. 

In this year, also, General O'Hara took the first steps toward the establishment 
of what, under the progress of years, has been one of Allegheny County's most im- 
portant manufactures. He, in connection with Major Isaac Craig, arranging in 



EARLY HISTORY. 37 

1796, to establish a window glass factory at Pittsburgh, although tlie works were 
not in operation until 1797. Of this enterprise, together with the subsequent pro- 
gress and development of the industry, further account is given in the chapter 
■devoted to the history of glass manufacturing in the city and county, as being in a 
•continuous recital more satisfactory to those interested ihan in the various chrono- 
logical periods of this general history. With this year it may be considered that 
the destiny of Pittsburgh as a manufacturing center began to develope. 

Situated at the head of a great reach of the cheapest transportation known, 
■with the Indians being gradually quieted by government policy, and driven back 
\>y the advancing current of emigration, the future, to sagacious commercial minds, 
gave promise of a broad and wealthy market. This would, of necessity, demand 
-all the heavier kinds of manufactured articles whose transportation across the 
mountains by the methods then in vogue, would greatly inhance their cost. With 
abundant material in easy reach to produce these Pittsburgh seemed, logically, the 
national supply point of the west. 

From the early circumstances of the settlement founded amid horrors of the 
French and Indian wars, and the succeeding contests by which a population* 
largely of brave, hardy, but in most cases uncultured men, skilled more in wood- 
craft and arms than commercial pursuits, formed the nucleus of the settlement, 
the first impression would be that commercial enterprise and manufacturing know- 
ledge would be wanting to give that direction to the business character of the 
settlement which would and did plant the germs of its present greatness. With 
the occupation of Fort Duquesne by Forbes' army, came men in various positions 
in the forces with acute and commercially educated minds. To them, as well as to 
their correspondents in the east, the possibility of profitable traffic with the 
Indians for their furs and peltry, had the same attractions that has preceded the 
march of commerce across the continent, and drawn by certainties of gain men 
from the safer haunts of business to the dangers and discomforts of the frontier. 

This fur trade of the west was important in the closing decade of the eigh- 
teenth century, and Messrs. Peter Maynard and William Morrison were largely 
engaged in it at Pittsburgh from 1790. They received supplies of goods from Mr. 
<xuy Bryan, a Philadelphia merchant, which goods were taken to Kaskaskia in 
barges, that returned yearly to Pittsburgh ladened with bear, buffalo and deer 
.skins, which were sent to Philadelphia. The war of the Revolution had brought 
to Pittsburgh such men as General Neville, General O'Hara, Major Kirkpatrick, 
Denny and others, while previously Colonel Croghan and other governmental 
Indian agents had from their duties been permanent settlers, with whom came the 
Craigs, Bayards, and other men of ability. With the army sent to quell the 
Whiskey Insurrection, came many young men from the eastern States, who liaving 
'become impressed with the opportunities at Pittsburgh, came back and settled 
rafter the army returned. 

The establishment of Allegheny County and the selection of Pittsburgh as its 
county seat opened a fresh field for the ambitious young members of the bar at 



38 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Carlisle and other eastern towns, and added to the material whose impulses and 
judgment strengthened the commercial spirit of the town, of whom were Breck- 
enridge, Wilkins, Ross, Addison and other men of culture and energy. 

There had, therefore, congregated at Pittsburgh much of the material on 
which to build a manufacturing community, needing but a leader to make the first 
forward move in that direction. This General James O'Hara was, and likewise 
Isaac Craig. From the traces of General O'Hara in the records of the times he 
seemed not only to have been a man of enterprise, but also of great persistent en- 
ergy and executive ability. General O'Hara seems, however, to have been but a 
good second in the founding of Pittsburgh's leading manufactories, although 
pioneer in glass. In iron this credit belongs to Mr. George Anshutz, an Alsatian? 
who emigrated to the United States in 1789, at the age of thirty-six years; and 
in the year of 1792-3 came to Pittsburgh and built a blast furnace at what is now 
Shadyside station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad. This point was about three 
miles distant from the town boundaries at that time, but is now nearly, if not 
quite central, in the city of to-day. The place where the furnace was built i& 
still marked by an old sycamore tree, just beyond the Shadyside station, on the 
north side of the road. 

At the time that Mr. Anshutz projected his furnace there were indications of 
iron ore at the location, and tradition says a small deposit of it. The exact date 
of the blowing in of the furnace or what was its capacity is not of record, but it 
was in blast in 1794. 

This, however, was not the case. The red shale that abounded in the neigh- 
borhood was assumed to be indications of iron, and without making any critical 
examinations the furnace was built, on the presumption that the iron ore was 
there. When ready for the blast it was discovered too late that there w^as no ore 
in the vicinity. The parties interested proceeded to get ore from Roaring creek,, 
on the Kiskiminitis, which they boated down that stream to the Allegheny, and 
down that river to Pittsburgh. 

It was not found profitable to bring ore from Kiskiminitis to the furnace for 
emelting, and the furnace was blown out. Whether it would have been subse- 
quently put in blast again cannot be said. It is, however, stated that the "Whisky 
Boys" were one cause of its abandonment. The company had about one thousand 
cords of wood cut and piled at a point now in the Fourteenth ward of the city of 
Pittsburgh, locally known as Oakland. This the "Whisky Boys" set fire to and 
burned. The loss of this, with other discouragements, led to the final abandon- 
ment of the furnace. 

From this circumstance the strides that manufactures have made in Alle- 
gheny's hundred years is forcibly shown. When, at the time of the existence of 
the Shadyside furnace, it would not pay to bring ore a distance of twenty-five 
miles, ores for Pittsburgh furnaces are now brought from Lake Michigan and 
other equally long distances, and even from parts of Europe and Africa. Tlirough 
the decade from 1790 to 1800 Pittsburgh seems to have been gradually accreting 



EARLY HISTORY. 39 

population and fresh business enterprises. Previous to 1796 the number of inhab- 
itants said to be in the town are merely estimated by various persons, chiefly 
travelers, and vary much. 

In 1793 the taxable inhabitants were found to be 2,510, and 64 stores. In 1796 
a local census was taken, and the population of Pittsburgh is given at 1,395, and 
the number of houses at 102. 

In this year the ramparts of Fort Pitt were still standing, and a portion of 
the officers' quarters. Outside the fort, next to the Allegheny river, was a large 
pond, a resort for wild ducks. On what is now Liberty avenue, from Fifth avenue 
to Fourth avenue, was another pond, and there was another pond at Wood street 
and Third avenue. 

Another pond extended along the north side of what is now Grant street, from 
Fourth avenue to Seventh street. It was in the morass created by this pond that 
Captain McDonald's Highlanders became bemired and suffered such slaughter at 
Grant's defeat. 

To follow up in complete chronological sequence the progress of Allegheny 
County in manufacturing industries from this period, while involving confusion to 
the mind, would be an unsatisfactory method of giving a clear understanding of 
the growth and massiveness they have attained. As a more satisfactory presenta- 
tion separate subsequent chapters, or sections thereof, are devoted to each of the 
staple products of Pittsburgh. While this is a review of Allegheny County's 
hundred years, it virtually becomes one of Pittsburgh almost entirely. At even 
the early period of 1803 the progress of the town was in most all interests that of 
the county, with the exception of its agricultural progress, which was small and 
uninteresting. To-day Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities are in fact the county, for 
the numerous suburban villages and towns, as Sharpsburg, Braddocks, McKees- 
port, Tarentum, Homestead and Verona, which contain the bulk of the county's 
population, outside of the two cities, are but extensions of the city's wards, so 
closely do factories and dwellings line the roads to and between. In the streets 
and offices of the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny the business of the county is 
virtually transacted and managed. There are, however, various interesting and 
important events in the flow of the hundred years that are strictly general county 
history, and some few of the details of the early manufacturing which are neces- 
sary to give a perfect verbal panorama of the hundred years in which Allegheny 
County has been one of the most important divisions of the nation. This is so 
markedly manifest that the thoughtful reader of its history is impressed with the 
influence its public sentiment, and its action, whether in political or commercial 
affairs, has exerted. Allegheny County may well be proud of its record, and the 
country proud of Allegheny County. It is the nursery in w^hich has been nur- 
tured and educated the manufacturing industries of the west. Through its action, 
influence and capital many of the more important mineral developments of the 
country have been made. Always unswervingly loyal to tlie government, it has 
never faltered in response to its calls, and been first and foremost in all movements 



40 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

where the interests of the nation, whether of business or industrial rights, were 
to be sustained. Grown up from a little knot of frugal, hard-working people, its 
population has lost nothing of the earlier characteristics of its pioneers, for al- 
though wealth and culture have with the passing of years come to its inhabitants, 
industry is still their leading trait. To be an idler, whatever the person's wealth, 
is far from being an honorable distinction in Allegheny County, and there are few 
who do not sedulously pursue some profession or branch of business. 

From 1800 to 1810, there are apparently no events rising above those pertain- 
ing to individual enterprise, or attaching to individual fortunes. In 1810 the pop- 
ulation of the town of Pittsburgh was, by census, 4,768, and it contained 641 houses 
During that decade manufacturing establishments gradually increased. 

In 1801 the first sea-going vessel arrived at the wharves of the town, being the 
schooner "Monongahela Farmer," built at Elizabeth, and loaded with flour. In 
the same year the schooner "Amity" and the ship "Pittsburgh" were built at 
Pittsburgh. Of these and subsequent vessels, in the chapter devoted to "Boat 
Building at Pittsburgh," the full history is given. 

At this time the expense of sustenance in Pittsburgh was small. The prices in 
market that year were, beef, 3 to 5 cents a pound ; of pork, 3 to 4 cents ; mutton 
4 to 5 cents; venison, 3 to 4 cents; flour, $1.25 a hundred weight; potatoes, 25 
cents a bushel ; butter, 10 cents a pound ; turkeys, 40 cents. 

In 1802 a French physician by the name of Michand, who visited Pittsburgh, 
says : 

"The houses are almost all of brick, and there are almost four hundred of 
them, the greater part of which are built on the bank of the Monongahela, and 
it is on that side that the commercial portion of the town is built. As many of 
the houses stand separately, and at considerable distance apart, the whole sur- 
face of the triangle is actually occupipd, and they have already begun to build 
on the high hills which command the town." 

In 1803 the first foundry was erected at Pittsburgh, by Joseph McClurg. In 
this year a full census of the value of the manufactures at Pittsburgh was taken, 
and appears to be an exhibit of which the citizens were quite pi oud, for in Cramer's 
Almanack of 1804 is tliis mention : " Do not be astonisiied when v/e inform you 
that the value of articles manufactured at Pittsburgli in 1803 amounts to upwards 
of $350,000." A detailed list is given in the Almanack, in which is the item — 
"Glass Cutting. N. B., equal to any cut in Europe, $500." Tliis was no doubt the 
work of Peter William Eichbaum, whom Messrs. O'Hara and Craig engaged in 
1796 to superintend their glass works. 

There are also in the list some items illustrative of the character of the day. 
Four hundred spinning wheels at three dollars each are mentioned, bringing up 
thoughts of the thrifty Scotch-Irish matron, and the home-spun garments; likewise, 
two hundred cowbells, telling of straying cows and giving visions of flaxen-haired 
''lads" and "lassies" seeking them in the bushy woods; also, buckskin breeches to 
the amount of $500, suggestive of the trapper and scout and the Indian trail. 



EARLY HISTORY. 41 

In 1804 the first bank was established at Pittsburgh, being a branch of the Bank 
of Pennsylvania. In this year an election was held for " twelve respectable citizens 
for town councils, one burgess and one high constable." The contest for burgess was 
an exciting one and the total vote cast was 246, of which Pressly Neville received 
143 and James O'Hara 103. The expenses of the county that year were $4,067.83, 
and the treasurer's salary was |12o, Mr. Ebenezer Denny being treasurer. 

In the same year one of those lamentable events arising out of the so-called 
"Code of Honor" of that period, occurred at Pittsburgh. Some personal difFer- 
€nces between Isaac Meeson, of Fayette county, and Henry Baldwin, of Pittsburgh 
having arisen, a duel was the consequence. The duelists met on the lot where the 
Pennsylvania Company's buildings now are. The agreement was to fight until one 
was hors du combat. At the first fire Meeson's ball struck a Spanish silver dollar 
in Baldwin's vest pocket, and he fell, being thought at first to be killed. This was 
soon discovered not to be the case, the ball only having raised a lump on his skin 
and caused a little spitting of blood. The pistols had been loaded for a second 
shot, when Judge Ptiddle, with a posse, appeared on the scene and stopped the 
combat. Mr. Meeson was a son of Col. Isaac Meeson, an iron master of Fayette 
county. Mr. Baldwin was a New Englander. In later years. Gen. Jackson, when 
President of the United States, invited him to become Secretary of the Treasury J 
he had prepared to go to Washington. President Jackson was overruled by 
Joel B. Sutherland and appointed Samuel D. Ingram, and Mr. Baldwin was given 
a seat on the bench of the U. S. Court. Meeson was a Federalist, and Baldwin 
what was then called a Kepublican. The pretext of the duel was party politics, 
but it was understood that a rivalry for the hand of a young lady was the underly- 
ing cause. Another duel was also fought about two years after, on the grounds 
near what is now the intersection of Forbes street and Craft avenue, between Tarle- 
ton Bates and Stewart, in which Tarleton Bates was killed. 

The progress of the industries of the county in the decade from 1800 to 1810 
were almost entirely at Pittsburgh. As before mentioned, in 1803, the articles 
manufactured at Pittsburgh was valued at |350,000. In 1806, it is noted in Cramers 
Almanack, that *' two very important manufactories have lately been erected and 
are no\v in operation. The one a cotton factory that can spin a hundred and 
twenty threads at a time with the assistance of a man and a boy." * * * " The 
other an air foundry, for the purpose of casting pots, kettles, mill iron, etc." 

This is probably the foundry of Joseph McClurg, established in 1803. It is 
also mentioned that " Mr. Lintot has been engaged some time in building a boat 
to go up stream with the assistance of horses. If the plan succeeds it will be 
attended with many important advantages to those concerned in the trade of the 
rivers." 

This remark is strikingly illustrative of how near mankind is often unknow- 
ingly to the greatest developments in the progress of civilization. It was but five 
years after Mr. Lintot's eflfbrts to construct a boat that would go up stream with 
the aid of horses, no doubt watched with great intei-est by "those concerned in the 



42 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

trade of the rivers," that the citizens of Pittsburgh saw afloat on the Mononga- 
hela a boat that went up stream without horses. 

In 1807, it is mentioned in the same publication, "this town is growing rapidly 
into importance." The following manufactories are recorded: "O'Hara's glass 
factory, Kerwin & Scott's cotton factory, McClurg's air furnace, Poters, Stringer 
and Stewart's nail factory, two extensive breweries, O'Hara and Lewis, two rope 
walks, Irwin and Davis, three copper and tin factories, Gazzam's, Harbeson's, and 
Banting & Miltenberger's." 

In 1808, Cramer'' s Almanack gives a detailed account of the business establish- 
ments in the town, and the list enumerates eighty-five classes of business, and em- 
braces three hundred and ninty-nine of what is styled " master workmen." The 
effort seems to have been to make the roll exhaustive, for in it is included four 
physicians and twelve school mistresses, but singularly in such a sweeping classifi- 
cation there is no mention of lawyers. 

Why attorneys were not master workmen, but physicians so considered then, 
may be left to such humorous conjectures as the reader pleases, when eight butchers 
are also classed as "master workmen." 

The wants of the women for spring bonnets and the latest fashion in dress, 
seems to have been well supplied, as the list gives six milliners and twelve mantua 
makers, besides one glove maker. 

There are fifty store keepers enumerated, and thirty-three tavern keepers. As 
at this time there were only about forty-seven hundred inhabitants, men, women 
and children, in the town, the supply of this latter class of "master workmen'' 
seems to have reached a pass w^hich now a days, is styled " over production," and 
must have given a fair test as to the virtue of competition in cheapening costs. 
Two barbers, and thirteen tailors provided in their lines for the wants of the male 
population, and a flute and jews-harp maker was at the service of those of musical 
tastes. 

In 1810, Cramer' s Almanack says, about 80,000 yards of flaxen linen, coarse and 
fine, are brought to market at Pittsburgh yearly, and remarks, in commenting on 
some made by a Mrs. James Gormley, " Let it be no longer foolishly and roundly 
asserted that American flax will not make, nor the American women cannot, fine 
linen." 

In connection with this it is noteworthy that all the publications of that date 
contain articles, and many from distinguished citizens, urging the manufacture of 
linen and attention to the culture of flax. Pittsburgh appears to have been 
looked to as the most important point for the establishment of the manufacture of 
linen. The value of the manufactures of Pittsburgh in 1810, is given in a census 
by the U. S. Marshal, at two millions of dollars. 

It would, no doubt, be interesting to give some account of the social characters 
and events of the decade, but the columns of the Gazette, the Federal and the Tree 
of Liberty, the newspapers that were then printed at Pittsburgh, furnish little or 
nothing to glean such matters from. The prototype of tlie " Topical Talker,'* 



EARLY HISTORY, 43 

"Quiet Observer," and "Koiinder," of the Gazette, Dispatch, and Post of 1888, did 
not exist, and the '^Society Editor" and "All Sorts" man of the Leader w&s as yet 
an unmaterialized being. 

It can only be judged from the foregoing resume of manufacturing progress 
that Pittsburgh was a thriving and growing town, beginning to assume the appear- 
ance and importance of a commercial center, and that from the two duels that 
the jealousies, political rancors, and personal ambitions, at all times incident to 
men, were as active then as now. There are some incidents of a biographical 
nature, which, while chronologically here in place, more properly find their place 
in subsequent chapters, relating to the business that from this time grew and in- 
creased to the magnitude they attained in the following seven or eight decades. 



CHAPTEE TV. 

From i8i I to 1846. 



The building of the first steamboat at Pittsburgh in 1811, was an incident in 
the history of the town, fraught with results of great moment, not only to Alle- 
gheny County, but likewise to the entire west, and absolutely to the commerce of 
the world. 

Its results are too well known to need comment beyond that which the reader's 
own thought formulate. It was one of those occurrences in the progress of civiliza- 
tion, twin in importance with the art of printing, as creating great revolution in 
social and commercial life, and it should be regarded as one of Allegheny County's 
proudest historical incidents, that the full success of Fulton and Rosewalt's inven- 
tion and the first fully practical steamboat was accomplished at Pittsburgh and 
built by her mechanics. 

Another leading incident at this date, in the progress of Allegheny County, is 
its historical connection with the war of 1812, in the volunteering and departure of 
the old " Pittsburgh Blues," a military company organized some years previous 
under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, to join the north-west army under 
Gen. William Harrison, who became President of the United States in 1840. This 
is generally accepted as the first military organization of Pittsburgh. There was^ 
lioAvever, a cavalry company organized in 1799, of which Dr. George Stevenson was 
captain ; also a light infantry company, commanded by Hon. William William, in 
January, 1804, and disbanded July 4th of the same year. Preparatory to their de- 
parture the Blues went into camp on the 10th of September, 1812, on Grant's hill ; 
on the 20th they were ordered to the north side of the Allegheny river, and went 
into camp on the North commons, near what is now Sherman avenue; on the 21sty 
the site of their camp was changed to the banks of the Ohio river, at a point where 



44 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

l^eaver avenue readies its bank ; on the 23d, tliev embarked on keel boats and 
anoved down tlie Ohio, on their way to join the troops on the Maumee. By the 
4:iuster roll of the company it was sixty men strong, and composed of the following 
rank and file : 

Officers. — James E. Butler, Captain ; Mathew Magee, First Lieutenant ; Elijah 
Trovillo, First Sergeant ; Isaac Williams, Second Sergeant, w^ounded at Fort Meigs? 
May 5th, 1813; John Willock, Third Sergeant, wounded at Fort Meigs, May 9th, 
1813; George Haren, Fourth Sergeant; Nathaniel Patterson, First Corporal ; John 
W. Benny, Second Corporal ; Samuel Elliott, Third Corporal, wounded at Missis- 
sinewa, December 18th, 1812; Israel B. Keed, Fourth Corporal, w^ounded at Miss- 
issinewa, December 18th, 1812; James Irwin, Ensign. 

Privates.— Kobert Allison; Daniel C. Boss, w^ounded at Fort Meigs, May 5th, 
1813; Isaac Chess, wounded at Mississinewa, Dec. 18th, 1812; John Deal, John 
Davis, John D. Davis, Andrew Deemer; Joseph Dodd, w^ounded at Mississinewa, 
Dec. 18th, 1812, died June 16th, 1813; Thomas Dobbins, wounded at Fort Meigs, 
May 5th, 1813; J. Elliott, Oliver English, Enoch Fairfield, Samuel Graham, Na- 
thaniel Hall, Samuel Jones, Jon Francis Lonsong, killed at Mississinewa, Dec. 18, 
1812; Jesse Lew^is, Peter S. Lewton, George MacFall, Thomas McClernin, Eobert 
McNeal, Norris Matthews, John Maxwell; Oliver McKee, killed May 28th, 1813; 
Nathaniel McGiffin, discharged for disability ; John Marcy, discharged for disabil- 
ity ; Moses Morse, Joseph McMasters ; Pressly J. Neville, promoted to Sergeant ; 
James Newman, killed at Fort Meigs, May 5th, 1813 ; William Eichardson, killed 
-at Fort Meigs, May 5th, 1813 ; John Park, wounded at Fort Meigs, May oth, 1813 ; 
Matthew^ Parker, John Pollard, Charles Pentland, Edward F. Pratt, George V. 
Eobinson, Samuel Swift, Thomas Sample, Henry Thompson, Nathaniel Vernon, 
David Watt, Charles Weidner; Charles Wahrendorf, wounded at Fort Meigs, 
May 5th, 1813; George S. Wilkens, promoted. May, 1813. 

They were included in a detachment of six hundred men w^ho were ordered by 
■General Harrison, on the 25th of November, to march from his headquarters and 
destroy the Indian towns on the Mississinewa river, and participated in the battle 
there fought. They w^ere also at Fort Meigs while it was beseiged by the Eng- 
lish. The "Blues" were also a part of the force of two hundred men who,- under 
Major George Croghan, made such a brilliant defence of Fort Stevenson against 
■General Proctor and five hundred English troops and five hundred Indians. 

Of the services of the "Blues" at this brilliant defence there is recorded that 
the enemy, concentrating the fire of all their guns on the northwest angle of the 
fort. Major Croghan supposed that when the British attempted to storm the fort 
the attack w^ould be at that angle. " Seeing this, he ordered Sergeant Weaver 
and six privates of the Pittsburgh Blues to place there bags of sand and flour. 
This was done so effectually that that angle received no material damage from the 
enemy's guns." Major Croghan had but one cannon in the fort, a six-pounder. 
This he placed in such a position as to rake the ditch in case the enemy attempted 
to scale the walls at that point. This only cannon was given in charge of Sergeant 



EARLY HISTORY. 4* 

Weaver and his six men to handle. When, late in the evening of the 2d of 
August, the British storming column attacked the fort, Sergeant Weaver and hi* 
six Pittsburghers opened the masked port hole at which they stood around their 
six-pounder, and the piece was discharged at the assailants, then only thirty feet 
distant. Death and desolation filltd the ditch around the works into which the 
attacking force had leaped in their charge. Fifty were instantly killed and' 
wounded, and the scaling column fled in dismay, nor did they renew the attack ; 
and at three o'clock that night Proctor and his men retreated. Another incident 
illustrative of the material of this company is pardonable here. The person nar- 
rating it says : " I had been in attendance on Captain Butler, lying sick in one of 
the block houses of Fort Meigs during its siege, and starting out one morning to- 
procure some breakfast, saw Sergeant Trovillo cooking coffee over some coals. I 
told him my errand, and he told me to wait a few minutes and he would divide 
his coffee with me. I took a seat, and in a moment or two afterwards heard the- 
peculiar singing of an Indian rifle ball that entered the ground a short distance 
from where we were sitting. Hurrah! says I; Seageant, what does that mean? 
He pointed to a tree at a considerable distance from the pickets, where I observed 
an Indian perched on one of the branches. He said, with great good humor :• 
' That rascal, George, has been firing at me ever since I commenced cooking my 
breakfast.' I swallowed my tin-cup of coffee pretty expeditiously, during which,, 
however, I think, he fired once or twice, and I told Trovillo I was not going to 
remain a target for the yellow-skins." 

The equipments for the fleet of Commodore Perry upon Lake Erie were, in a 
great measure, furnished from Pittsburgh, a portion of the cannon being cast in^ 
the old Pittsburgh foundry, which formerly occupied ground at the corner of Fifth 
avenue and Smithfield street, where the present postoflEice now stands, and the 
cordage was furnished from the rope walk of John Irwin, then in existence at the 
" Point," as the ground at the junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers 
was called. The steamer Enterprise, of forty -five tons measurement, the fourth 
steamboat that navigated the western rivers, took from Pittsburgh some of the 
cannon and other munitions of war used at the battle of New Orleans. Leaving 
Pittsburgh on the 1st of December, 1814, under the command of Captain Henry 
M. Shreve, it is said that her timely arrival aided greatly in the success of Gen- 
eral Jackson. 

The year of 1812 is also notable in this historical sketch, as on the 28th of 
August of that year Charles Avery came to Pittsburgh and entered into the drug 
business with a Mr. VanZandt. It was not his thus engaging in business that 
entitles his name to prominent mention in the history of Allegheny, but because 
of his philanthrophy and the interest he took at that early day in the advance- 
ment of the African race. He was thoroughly anti-slavery in sentiment and 
practice, when such sentiments meant almost ostracization by his fellow citizens. 

In order to test his convictions by actual experiment, he erected, in the latter 
years of his life, at his own cost, a college edifice, which now bears his namfy 



46 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

<ledicated to the education of the African. He died in the city of Allegheny 
January 17th, 1858, before the college was finished, and left a bequest of |25,000 
to aid in its maintainance. Mr. Avery's fortune was estimated at his death at 
$800,000, of which he left a large proportion for the education of the colored 
people in the United States and Canada. A monument to his memory is erected 
in the Allegheny cemetery. 

In 1812 the Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company began business, which was 
later merged in the present Bank of Pittsburgh, which organized for business 
November 22d, 1814, of which a fuller account is given, as also all subsequent 
banks of the county, in a special chapter. 

In 1816 an Act was passed by Legislature erecting Pittsburgh a city under the 
style of the "Mayor, Aldermen and citizens of Pittsburgh." Ebenezer Denny 
was elected the first Mayor, his term being from July 9th, 1816, to July 20th, 
1817. He was born in Carlisle March 10th, 1761, and was a dispatch boy to Fort 
Pitt in 1774, at the age of thirteen. He was a commissioned ofiicer of the first 
Pennsylvania line, and served through the southern campaign that ended at York- 
town. He was commissioned Captain of "Allegheny Company" of State troops, 
one of the earliest formations of State militia authorized by the State Assembly in 
the early part of 1794 to defend the western frontier against the Indians. He 
was also adjutant to General Harmar in his campaign of 1790, and an aid to 
General St. Clair. 

On June 11th, 1816, the first election for managers of the Monongahela bridge, 
the first bridge across the river at Pittsburgh, was held, at which William Wilkins 
was elected President and John Thaw, father of William Thaw, Vice President of 
the Pennsylvania Company, Treasurer and Clerk. 

He was annually re-elected until 1861, when he declined re-election. The 
contract for building the bridge was let on the 9th of July, to Louis Wernwag and 
Joseph Johnstone. This bridge, as being one of the important thoroughfares 
between the main city and the south side across the Monongahela river, claims a 
brief line as to its eventful history . Chartered by Legislature in 1810, the charter 
was suffered to lapse, but renewed in 1816. It was opened for public travel on 
December 31st, 1818, having cost |102,460. In January, 1831, the first pier on the 
Pittsburgh side gave way and precipitated the span into the river. In the great 
fire of 1845, it was burned and replaced by a wire suspension bridge under the 
direction of John A. Eoebling, the builder of the great East Eiver bridge, N. Y. 

In 1880, the bridge had become unsafe for public travel, and a new bridge was 
decided on, which was commenced in 1881, on the plans of Mr. G. Lindenthal, and 
completed August, 1883, and the total cost of the bridge being $458,000. In 1816 
was also organized the Allegheny Bridge Co., William Kobinson, Jr., being elected 
president. He was the first child of white parentage, in what is now the city of 
Allegheny, having been born on the 17th of December, 1785, in the first log house 
erected on the present site of that city. His father was the ferryman who con- 
veyed the people over the Allegheny in those early days. General Eobinson, as 



EARLY HISTORY. 47 

he was called, acquired the title through a commission in the State militia. He 
was the first president of the Ohio and Pennsylvania E. K., and the first president of 
the Exchange Bank, and at one time a member in the State Legislature. He died 
in 1868, on the 25th of February, having continued to reside on the grounds where 
he was born, although tli^ log cabin had many years before given place to a hand- 
some residence. The bridge of which he was, as before stated, president, cost 
180,000 to build. In 1860 it was replaced by a: wire suspension bridge, built under 
contract by John A. Koebling, at a cost of $250,000. The State of Pennsylvania 
owned |40,000 of the stock in the first bridge. This stock was sold in 1843 by the 
State, realizing over |30 per share on a par value of |25.00. 

In 1816, was also laid out that portion of the city of Pittsburgh, now its ninth 
tenth and twelfth wards, by George A. Bayard and James Adams, and long known 
as Bayardstown. Lots were sold in perpetual lease at $1.25 to $2.50 per foot. 
Shortly afterwards a portion of the second ward, from Eoss street running out 
Second avenue, was laid out by William Price and was then known as Pipetown. 

The town appears to have continued to gradually acquire increased import- 
ance as a manufacturing center, and in January, 1817, an account of the manufac- 
tures of the city was taken by order of the Councils, by which it was ascertained 
there were 248 factories of various descriptions, employing 1,280 hands, and pro- 
ducing goods to the value of $1,896,366, and there were 111 other industries, 
entitled trades, employing 357 hands and producing goods to the amount of 
$700,003. 

In the same year Morris Brikbecker, in his notes on a Journey in America, 
writes of Pittsburgh, "Here I expected to have been enveloped in clouds of smoke, 
issuing from a thousand furnaces, and stunned with the din of a thousand hammers 
I confess I was much disappointed by Pittsburgh. A century and a half ago per- 
haps, Birmingham might have admitted a comparison with Pittsburgh. 

" Yet taken as it is, with rhetorical description, it is truly a very interesting 
and important place. Establishments which are likely to expand and multiply as 
the small acorn, planted in a good soil and duly protected, is to become the majestic 
oak that 'flings his giant arms amid the sky.' At present the manufacturers are 
under great difficulties and many are on the eve of suspending their operations, 
owing to the influx of depreciated fabrics from Europe." Mr. Brikbecker, judging 
from this paragraph, was and would have been to day a full fledged "Tarifl' 
man." 

It is also evident from his remarks, that free trade was then, as it is to day, a 
hindrance and positive injury to the industries of Pittsburgh. Mr. Brikbecker 
seems to have been shocked at the spendthrift habits of the workmen, and writes, 
" Journeymen in various branches, shoemakers, tailors, &c., earn $2 a day. Many 
of them improvident, and thus they remain journeymen all their days. It is not, 
however, in absolute intemperance and profligacy that they, in general, waste their 
surplus earnings, it is in excursions and entertainments. Ten dollars spent at a 
ball is no rare result of the gallantry of a Pittsburgh journeyman.'' 



48 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Mr. Brikbecker writes further, " Tins evening I heard delightful music from a 
piano made in this town, where a few years ago stood a fort from which a white man 
durst not pass without a military guard on account of the Indians, who were then 
the hostile lords of this region." 

The fact that pianos were at that date manufactured at Pittsburgh might be 
doubted, especially as the enumeration made by order of the councils make no 
mention of such a factory. From an advertisement in the Pittsburgh Gazette, in 
1814, it appears that one Charles Kosenbaum had established himself as a maker 
of pianos, and offers those instruments at from $250 to $350 each, and also to con- 
tract for the building of grand pianos for those who desire them, on such terms as 
may be agreed on. 

In this year, 1817, the building of a theatre was agitated, and it was erected 
and completed during the succeeding twelve months. Pittsburgh had not, how- 
ever, been without dramatic amusements. The advertisements in the Gazette pre- 
vious to that show that strolling companies from time to time gave musical, 
dramatic and other similar entertainments, the old Black Bear tavern, in the 
north east corner of the Diamond, being where these entertainments were most 
frequently held. 

The boards of the theatre of 1817 were trodden by citizens of Pittsburgh dis- 
tinguished then and famous in latter days, among whom were Richard Biddle^ 
Morgan M. Murray, Matthew Magee, Morgan Neville, Charles Shaler, James B. 
Butler, Alexander Breckenridge, Sidney Mountain, William Wilkins, J. S. Craft 
and George Beale. The persons just mentioned were members of a Thespian 
society, whose object was to create a fund for the relief of the suffering poor. The 
distribution of the funds thus raised was managed in so anonymous a manner that 
the recipients were uninformed of the source from whence it came. This organi- 
zation was succeeded by a second Thespian society, many of the members of which 
were students of the Western University. This society continued for about six 
months, when it was suddenly brought t© a close by the faculty of the University. 
The lot upon which this first temple of the drama was built is the Third street 
end of the lot occupied by the Dollar Savings Bank. It is the westerly half of a 
lot marked 310 in the general plan of the city, which was conveyed to Robert 
Smith by the Penns in September, 1790. The building was demolished in 1828 
by Henry Holdship, who at that time purchased it. 

In 1817 the city began to feel the effects of the reaction of the inflation of the 
war of 1812-14. During that period the city had enjoyed much prosperity, owing 
to the business created by its ability to furnish munitions of war and the collateral 
trade incident thereto. 

At all times, whenever the nation has engaged in war, Pittsburgh has been a 
center for the supply and manufacture of munitions; and it is singular that a 
point so secure from attack, so central in position, so full of resources to furnish 
both naval and military armaments, and from which they could be so easily dis- 
tributed to all quarters of the nation, has been neglected by the government as 



EARLY HISTORY. 49 

the site of a National Arsenal. To some extent this seems to have been consid- 
ered in the erection of what is now known as the Allegheny Arsenal, in 1813-14, 
which was completed in April, 1814. The site of this arsenal was selected by 
Colonel Woolsey and W. B. Foster, Esq., the father of Stephen C. Foster, the 
eminent composer of songs and music, and of Hon. Morrison Foster, the Chairman 
of the Committee on celebrating the Centennial of Allegheny County. 

In 1818, on March 3d, an Act was passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania 
providing for the erection of a State's prison in Allegheny County. Messrs. 
James Eoss, Walter Lowrie, David Evans, William Wilkins and Dr. George 
Stevenson were appointed Commissioners to select a site. The town of Allegheny 
donated the plot where the Western Penitentiary was built, at what is now the 
corner of Sherman avenue and the present Allegheny City Park. This building 
was completed in 1826, and the first prisoner received July 22d of that year. Up 
to 1823 the city and, of course, the whole county, was nearly at a standstill from 
the disastrous reaction of the war of 1812-14. In 1817 many factories stopped 
for want of business, and there was a continual downward tendency in business 
and the value of property. In 1821 the distress reached its height; manufac- 
tures, trade and industry were all prostrated. In May of that year flour was 
only one dollar per barrel, boards two dollars a thousand feet, whisky fifteen cents 
a gallon, sheep and calves one dollar a head. It required a bushel and a half of 
wheat to buy one pound of coffee, and twelve barrels of flour to purchase a yard 
of superfine broadcloth. From this it will be seen that all agricultural products 
were of compai-atively little value, while imported goods were dear. It was an 
exemplification of free trade eflfects under the result of peculiar local causes. The 
manufactories being closed, or nearly so, labor was without the means to purchase 
freely, and in consequence the prices of agricultural products declined to the ex- 
treme low rates quoted, while foreign products were dear from the prices that had 
to be paid for them in the depreciated values of home products. 

Singularly, during this period of depression two newspapers were started l^he 
Commonwealth and the Pittsburgh Weekly Recorder. 

It was a period that would seem to offer but little encouragement to such en- 
terprises, and affords a striking illustration of the hopefulness of those who catch 
the editorial and publishing fever, which has under similar circumstances carried 
at times, newspapers to success, yet made wrecks of so many others. 

It was during this period of depression, in 1822, that the Western University 
of Pennsylvania began its work as a college, and is the alma mater of many of 
Allegheny County's most distinguished citizens in the liberal professions as well 
as in its manufacturing and commercial pursuits. There is in connection with 
this and other enterprises undertaken during this period of depression a marked 
trait of the people of Allegheny County that runs through all the vicissitudes of 
its progress from the earliest days. The persistence with which, when they have 
once undertaken an enterprise, they adhere to its fortunes, and ultimately achieve 
its success. 



50 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Always slow to embark in new enterprises, once engaged tliey are loyal to 
their matured convictions. Founded among the hazardous days of the French 
?ind Indian wars, and largely populated by the Scotch-Irish, in which the Coven- 
anter element of Scotland was largely represented, the strong religious convictions 
of that faith, and the frugal, conservative habits have left so deep an impress on 
the succeeding generations that conservatism, self-reliance and the courage of 
their convictions is still a characteristic of the men of Allegheny County of to- 
day. What the Puritan was to New England in that section, the Scotch-Irish 
have been to Western Pennsylvania 

Allegheny County, possessing resources that are and always have been remark- 
able, even in the strongest sense of the word, might, perhaps, with a more 
sanguine and impulsive population, have made more rapid progress, but while its 
advance in all things has been slow, it has never taken a step backward, and has, 
as the history of its local manufactures and its national movements show, still 
been in the forefront of progress, and stands to-day in the eyes of the world as 
the most marked county of the United States. From its small acorn seed the 
oak grows slowly, but it grows solidly, and lasts its thousand years, while more 
quickly maturing woods decay. Allegheny County is a grand oak in the many 
that in the growth of the Nation have come into jDolitical and commercial 
existence. 

In 1825 the city began to acquire fresh energy, and manufacturing, which has 
always been the motive force of Allegheny County, began to thrive once more. 
As of those industries in all its various commercial enterprises are, in this 
epitome of Allegheny County's Hundred Years, more satisfactorily portrayed to 
those interested in special chapters devoted to the respective classes of its business 
enterprises than if scattered in chronological detail through the compendium of 
its general history, the further recording of which is more closely confined to the 
leading events in the county's progress. 

1824 is also an important date in Allegheny County's history, marking the 
first national movement in the construction of the Pennsylvania canal, so long an 
important factor in the transportation facilities of Allegheny County. The move- 
ment in New York State to connect its tide waters with Lake Erie having awak- 
ened an emulative feeling in Pennsylvania, revived the idea that as early as 1762 
existed, when it was proposed to connect the waters of the Ohio and Lake Erie 
with the Delaware. As it was supposed that this would require a greater amount 
of capital than could be obtained through a joint stock company, a successful effort 
was made to enlist the State in the enterprise. 

On the 27th of April, 1824, an Act was passed appointing three commissioners 
to examine the various routes for the proposed canal. On the 11th of April, 1825, 
five commissioners were authorized by an Act of Legislature to examine routes for 
a canal. These commissioners appointed by the Governor were William Darling- 
ton, John Sargent, Eobert Parkinson, David Scott and Abner Lacock. The re- 
port of this board was favorable, and on the 25th of February, 1826, an Act 
authorizing the construction of the canal was passed. 



EARLY HISTORY. 51 

In 1825 the Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church was 
formed aijd established in 1827 in Allegheny City. A full account of this is 
given by Judge Parke in his " KecoUections of Seventy Years," published in 1886. 

In 1828, by an Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, " on April 14th," 
the town of Allegheny was chartered as a borough, and in 1829, John Irwin, who 
w^as a son of Colonel John Irwin of the Kevolutionary army, was chosen its first 
burgess, which office he held until 1834, when he was succeeded by Hugh Davis, 
and he in 1838 by John Morrison, who held office until 1840, when the borough 
fcecame a city. 

John Irwin was born in the borough of Pittsburgh, July 1st, 1787, and became 
a rope manufacturer when he attained the years of manhood, having acquired 
a, knowledge of the business when a mere lad, under the teachings of his father 
who carried on the business under the style of " John Irwin and Wife." They 
were the successors of the firm who established the first rope walk in Pittsburgh, 
which Judge Park says in his Reminiscences was in 1794, was on the present site 
of the Monongahela House. The works were, in 1795, according to Judge Park, 
removed to the square bounded by Liberty, Third and Fourth streets, and Kedoubt 
alley, and subsequently removed to the beach of the Allegheny river, between 
Marbury street and the point, where the entire rigging of Perry's fleet was pre- 
pared. In 1813, the erection of the rope walk on a more extensive scale was 
begun in Allegheny town. Mr. Irwin died on June 30th, 1863, at his residence, 
Sewickley, Pa., in his 76th year. He was tendered many places of political perfer- 
ment but firmly declined such distinctions. He was, for a number of years before 
his death, a director of the Bank of Pittsburgh, his reputation as a business man 
ranking high in the community, being remarkable for his strict integrity. 

Plis father, Colonel John Irwin, died May 5th, 1808, in the fiftieth year of his 
age, and his remains were interred in the First Presbyterian burying ground with 
military and Masonic honors. 

The decade from 1830 to 1840, is filled with local historical dates pertaining to 
the continued growth of the county and its industries. While as an exhibit of the 
individual enterprise, this data is illustrative of the business energy that was ac- 
creting, it is not strictly public movements, only so far as they are indications of 
the increasing importance of the county in the development of the west. 

To mention a few of the individuals or enterprises in general history would be 
invidious where all were on the same plane of action equally deserving. To give 
all in detail would be cumbersome. Such data finds more fitting presentation in 
the statistical exhibits made of the progress of the various branches of the coun- 
ty's industries. 

Pittsburgh had at this time acquired the title of the Iron City and a popula- 
tion, in 1840, of 38,931. Some of the more prominent minor public events are 
here noted as of interest to the local readers. 

In this decade, on July 15th, 1831, the Duquesne Greys were organized by the 
election of Major Kufus L. Baker U. S. A., then in command of the Allegheny 



52 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Arsenal. This military organization, having prominence in after events of the 
county, calls for the record of its formation as an historical datum. On the 4th of 
May an Act of Assembly was signed by Gov. Wolf, creating the "Infantry Corps of 
the Duquesne Greys" as an independent volunteer company. On July 2nd, they 
made a march from Pittsburgh to Greensburg, and on October 12th made their 
first public review parade. On October 10th, 1834, they were under arms for the 
preservation of the peace of the city, the occasion being the first actual service of 
the Greys. Major Baker was succeeded in the command of this company by Jonas- 
R. McClintock, in 1833. He by John Birmingham, in 1835. He by Capt. George 
Hays, afterwards Col. of Eighth Penna. Eeserves, 1836 and he, in 1837, by John 
Herron, son of Eev. Francis Herron, pastor of the First Presbyterian church. 
While under the command of Capt. Herron the Greys volunteered for the Mexi- 
can war. 

The year 1832, is notable as the date when, perhaps, the first public protest 
was made against slavery in Allegheny county. On the evening of January 16th, 
1832, the colored citizens of Pittsburgh assembled in the African church, organ- 
ized as a society and adopted a preamble and constitution in which they declared 
that " ignorance is the sole cause of the present state of londage of the people of 
color in these United States, and for the purpose of dispersing the moral glocm 
that has so long hung around us have, under Almighty God, associated ourselves 
together — which association shall be known as the Pittsburgh African Education 
Society." 

To the constitution adopted are signed the names of John B. Vashon, President^ 
Job. B. Thompson, Vice President, Lewis Woodson, Secretary, Abraham D. Lewis, 
Treasurer, Richard Bryans, William J. Greenly, Samuel Bruce, Moses Howard, 
Samuel Clingham, Board of Managers. 

That ultimately the enormity of the national crime of slavery would have 
brought about the same results, there can be no question. It was so utterly for- 
eign to the Constitution, and so repugnant to all reflecting minds, that its contin- 
ued existence under the progress of civilization in the United States was impossible. 

That the public protest of the colored men of Allegheny at a time, so long be- 
fore the abolition of slavery, was not without its influence in shaping subsequent 
events, admits of no question, considered in the philosophy of cause and efl^ect, and 
the many instances in the history of men and nations, of remote primary causes 
leading up to great public reforms. The foregoing action of the colored people of 
the . county is, therefore, interesting historically in view of the prominent part 
Allegheny county, a few years after this, took in the abolition of slavery, and as 
the birth place of the Republican party. 

On the 1st of October, 1832, the cholera broke out in Pittsburgh, having been 
brought to the city by a colored man from Cincinnati. Some twenty persons died 
of it, chiefly colored citizens. A few years later Pittsburgh experienced a much 
more severe visitation of the disease. 

1832 also witnessed the foundation, through the efforts of the women, of one 
of the noble charieties of the county, in the organization of the Pittsburgh and 



EARLY HISTORY. 53 

Allegheny Orphan Asylum. A preliminary organization was effected at a meet- 
ing held in the First Presbyterian church on April 17th, 1832, at which William 
Robinson, Jr., presided. An Act was passed by the Legislature and approved 
March 20th, 1834. In this Act there were appointed as managers, Elizabeth 
F. Denny, Mary Robinson, Elizabeth Tiernan, Marion Young, Margaret Bruce» 
Elizabeth P. Halsey, Susan K. Wade, Anna Halsey, Mary B. Holmes, Mary 
Wilkins, Margaret George, Hannah Higby, Mary A. S. Baird, and Isabella 
Simpson. The work of the institution was begun with three inmates in a small 
house on the bank of the Ohio in Allegheny town. 

In 1832, was also laid out the town of Manchester by John Sampson, C. L 
Armstrong, Thos. Barlow, Thos. Hazelton, and Samuel Hall. In 1867 it was 
annexed to the city of Allegheny, becoming the fifth and sixth wards of that 
municipality. 

The year of 1832 is also memorable in the history of the county, as the year 
of the great flood, when the waters of the Allegheny rose to the height of 35 feet, 
the water extending up Wood street as far as Second, and being from five to six 
feet deep in the basement of the Exchange Hotel at the corner of Penn avenue 
-and St. Clair (now Sixth) street. In Allegheny town, all below what was called 
the second bank was covered with water from six to twelve feet deep. 

In 1835, the first public school in Pittsburgh was opened in an old building on 
the corner of what was then Irwin street (now Seventh) and Duquesne Way, 
where the Robinson House now stands. George F. Gilmore, afterwards a member 
of the Bar of Allegheny County, was principal. The school opened with an en- 
rollment of five scholars. 

On the 8th of April, 1835, the ordinance was passed by councils to erect the 
first gas works of the city. 

In 1837, the city of Pittsburgh and the borough of Birmingham and adjoining 
suburbs, issued scrips, or "shin plasters" as they were called in the slang par- 
lance of the day. An ordinance was passed by the city of Pittsburgh, directing 
the Mayor, Jonas R. McClintock, to sign them, which he refused to do. 

These few occurrences of .purely local interest in the decade of 1830 to 1840, 
are sufiicient to furnish a glimpse of the local history of that period. In 1840, the 
borough of Allegheny was, by Act of Legislature, on the 13th of April, constituted 
-a body politic, under the name and style of the Mayor, Aldermen and citizens of 
Allegheny. By the Act an election for municipal ofiicers was ordered, and held 
on the 13th of April, 1840. The election resulted in the choice of Gen. William 
Robinson, Jr., as Mayor. Gen. Robinson's parentage, birth, and the honorable 
positions he held, are mentioned on a previous page. 



54 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

CHAPTEK y. 

From 1845 to i860. 

In 1845 a great calamity came upon the City of Pittsburgh. As the clocks of 
the city indicated the hour of noon, a fire broke out at the corner of Second and 
Ferry streets, igniting by some shavings under a wash-kettle in the yard of a 
dwelling. The weather had been very dry and warm for the season for some^ 
weeks previous. The writer witnessed much of the conflagration from its begin- 
ning to its close, and can only describe it as a fearful sight. The fire did not pro- 
gress from block to block, but great masses of flame were held up by the force of 
the wind and arched over the intervening blocks, and thereby the center of a 
square was ignited before the houses on either side of a street became evea 
scorched. Huge flakes of burning boards were carried far in advance of the fire^ 
and applied a torch, as it were, to houses squares away. The Third Presbyterian^ 
Church, in the rear of which the fire originated, was saved by the great exertions^ 
of the Niagara Fire Engine Company. This, as the wind was then blowing from- 
the south, was most fortunate, as once through that barrier it is most probable that 
the section of the city which escaped would also have fallen a prey to the flames. 
The rapidity with which the fire swept up the course of the Monongahela river 
towards the south cannot be described. It seemed as though the entire section of 
the city burned was on fire within an hour after the conflagration began. The en- 
tire fire force of the two cities was of no use to stay its ravages in the direction in- 
which'the wind drove the flames, and it was not until there was no fuel to feed' 
upon that the fire ceased. The heat was intense, and all things, glass, brick, stone^ 
and even iron, absolutely melted beneath its power. In the large iron and glass- 
warehouses on Water street no efibrt was made to save their contents, and after 
the fire had ceased and the embers cooled down great masses of window glass and 
table ware and iron were piled amid the ruins of the warehouses, melted into* 
compact masses. In several cases these, especially where of iron, were, when the 
warehouses were rebuilt, tumbled into pits excavated beneath them in the cellars^. 
where many of them remain to the present day. The solidity into which the heat 
of the flames had welded bar iron and nails defied any effort to segregate them by 
chisel or blast, and their massiveness prevented their removal in a body. In the- 
swiftness with which the fire spread, the confusion and panic that prevailed, it i&- 
most wonderful that but two lives were lost. One of these was that of Samuel 
Kingston, a prominent member of the bar, who, re-entering his house to save a 
valuable paper left behind, fell a victim to the flames. The other was a Mrs.. 
Brooks. The fire swept over the most wealthy and business part of the city, and' 
desolated a space of nearly sixty acres. The conflagration spread southwest and 
eastward in the shape of an open fan, the handle being at its point of beginning^ 
Second and Ferry streets, and when it ceased its rim was at what was then called 
Pipetown, beyond where the Pittsburgh, St. Louis tk Chicago Kailroad passe. 



EARLY HISTORY, 55 

Second avenue. Its sides were the Monongahela river and Fourth avenue, until 
it reached Wood street, then from Diamond street straight out to Koss. There 
were over one thousand dwellings, warehouses, stores, churches, hotels and public 
buildings burned, and the loss has been variously computed, but was generally 
estimated between eight and ten million dollars. Warm hearts and liberal hands 
hastened to relieve the suffering and distress, and from every quarter of the 
United States, and from Europe, money, provisions, clothing and household arti- 
cles came pouring in, and Pittsburgh has never forgotten that generous action, and 
fails not, when other communities are in need from calamities, to do as they were 
done by. 

In 1846, at the outbreak of the Mexican war, Allegheny's patriotism responded 
to the call for volunteers, and Pittsburgh became again a camp and supply point, 
as well as a rendezvous for troops from other sections ordered to embark for 
Mexico via New Orleans at this point. At no time has the great military value 
of the Ohio been more clearly shown than during war periods in the facility it 
gave for the transportation of troops and all necessary articles for either susten- 
ance of an army or their aggressive munitions of war. To be a transportation 
power always available in case of need, it should at all times have no less than six 
feet of water within its banks. Viewed only as a military improvement, not to 
consider its commercial importance, it seems singular that the government does 
not enter upon the permanent improvement of the navigation of the river to ac- 
complish that result. Peace may always dwell within our borders, and foreign 
powers be friendly, but if it is well to build war ships, construct forts and 
maintain a military organization, is it not well to make as available as possible, 
for military reasons, a military facility such as the Ohio river has always been in 
times of war ? 

The Pittsburgh military organizations which responded to the call for troops 
by the President for service in Mexico were the Duquesne Greys, Captain John 
Herron; the Pittsburgh Blues, Captain Alexander Hays; and the Irish Greens, 

Captain Robert Porter; also Company C, Captain Sample. A fourth 

company was recruited by Captain George Hays, a former captain of the Duquesne 
Greys, who during the civil war became colonel of the Eighth Pennsylvania 
Reserves. 

There was much rivalry between Captain Porter and Captain Hays as to 
which should first fill the ranks of their several companies, for as but three com- 
panies could be accepted from Allegheny County, and the two companies of the 
Greys and Blues being full at the time of the call, it was a question of expeditious 
recruiting as to which one of the other two should first fill their quota. The 
Greens succeeded, and Captain George Hays and his comrades were disappointed 
in taking part in the Mexican campaign. There also were in the same regiment 
recruited into the several companies of which it was composed a number of Pitts- 
burghers, there being nineteen in Company D, three in Company G, eleven in 
Company B, thirteen in Company L, sixteen in Company M, and one in Com- 
pany F. * 



53 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

These Pittsburgh companies embarked with others wlio came from Philadel- 
phia and other points from Pittsburgh on December 25th, 1846, the Greys on the 
steamer New England. The Pittsburgh troops landed at New Orleans on January 
1st, 1847, and on the 14th re-embarked on the ship Oxnard, and landed near Vera 
Cruz on March 9th, The Greys took an active part in the seige of that place, 
and in the battle of Cero Gerdo, April 19th, were engaged. On the 22d of the 
same month the Greys occupied the castle of Perote Puebla, Avhich they garri- 
soned with three other companies under the command of Colonel Samuel W. 
Black. This gallant soldier, for many years a prominent member of the Pitts- 
burgh Bar, and in 1861 the Governor of Nebraska, lost his life in the battle of 
Gains Hill in the war of the rebellion. 

Brave, talented and impetuous, the following extract of a speech made by him 
in 1861, in welcoming his successor to the Governorship of Nebraska, is character- 
istic of the man : " On to-morrow," he said, " I shall start for Pennsylvania, to 
stand there as here, very close to the flag she follows. I think I shall recognize 
it as the same that has always waved over her battalions. It is a goodly flag to 
follow, and carries a daily beauty in its folds that makes all others ugly." 

The siege of Puebla continued for some weeks, during which the following 
members of the Greys were killed : John Gilchrist, John H. Herron, Francis B- 
Johns, H. Kreutzleman, William A. Phillips, James Phillips, Samuel Sewell, 
William Schmidt, Samuel Troger, David Vernav, Francis ^^anDvke, Joseph 
Wilson. 

In the decade from 1850 to 1860 the population of Allegheny County increased 
from 138,200 in 1850 to 178,831 in 1860. Much of this increase was added to the 
population of the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, and the boroughs of Mc- 
Keesport, Braddock and Tarentum began to assume great importance as manufac- 
turing suburbs of the two cities. 

Despite various causes tending to local depression in business, the county's 
history is marked with the inception of various business enterprises and projects 
of no interest beyond mere local benefits. The importance to Allegheny County 
©f railroad connection with the west and the east had, previous to the beginning 
of this decade, been much agitated, and the Ohio & Pennsylvania and. the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad in 1850-52 inaugurated what may be styled the railroad era of 
Allegheny County. It is also marked by several serious riots arising from labor 
troubles, noted in the chapters touching the progressive history of the various in- 
dustries. A serious local monetary panic likewise left its impress on the progress 
of the county and its financial wrecks. 

In all important elements of the county's growth and development, it contin- 
ued, however, to increase in importance as a commercial and manufacturing center. 
The great natural resources upon which its business was based were too powerful 
to be restrained in their force, and the business persistency and courage of its 
population too elastic to be broken. The city had been so fully rebuilt in the 
great district devastated by the fire of '45 that few vestages of it Vi.ere i^ 1850 to 



EARLY HISTORY, 57 

he seen. The banking capital of the cities increased, and many important manu- 
factures were added to its productive forces. The county, in this decade, made no 
step backward, but moved forward in all its general essential interests. 

Among the comparatively minor events not touched upon in special chapters 
of this volume was the dedication of Masonic Hall in 1851 ; the burning of St. 
Paul's Roman Catholic Cathedral on May 6tli of that year, and the laying of the 
corner stone of Dixmont Hospital on July 19th, 1859; the robbery of the Custom- 
house of ten thousand dollars, one of the officials on his way home being gagged 
and the keys of the safe being taken from him, on the 18th of March, 1854 ; the 
dedication of the House of Eefuge, and the reception of the first inmate, a boy of 
ten years of age, on December 15th, 1854 ; the erection of the Allegheny County 
Home in 1853, and the opening of the Central High School September 25th, 1855. 
Several churches were built during this decade, among which was the St. Mary's 
Catholic Church, the corner stone of which was laid April 12th, 1853; and on 
July 12th of the same year that of the Christ M. E. Church. In Sep- 
tember of 1854 the cholera broke out a second time in Pittsburgh, and from 
September 25th to September 30th there died from the disease 249 citizens. 
While much excitement existed, there was no panic. The authorities and the 
medical profession battled with the disease bravely. A memorable feature of the 
preventive methods against its spread was the burning of huge piles of bituminous 
coal in nearly all the principal streets, under the impression that the sulphur and 
carbonic gas thus set free to mix with the atmosphere would destroy the germs of 
the plague in the air. 

Two important political conventions where held in this county during this 
decade. The first was the National Free Soil convention, held in Masonic Hall, 
August 10th, 11th and 12th, of which Henry Wilson, of Massachuetts, was per- 
manent president, and by which John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, was, on August 
12ih, nominated for President of the United States, and George W. Julian, of 
Indiana, for Vice President. 

On February 22d, 1856, a national convention to form a party to resist further 
extension of slavery, at which were many of the most prominent public men of 
the nation, was held in Lafayette Hall and formally organized the Eepublican 
party. The history of the political party then created is that of three of the 
most momentous decades in the political existence of the nation, and Allegheny 
County did not only much to prepare the way for its formation, but has ever been 
loyal to principles thus announced. On January 26th, of 1857, a public meeting 
was held to raise funds to purchase coal for the sufiering poor of Cincinnati. Owing 
to prolonged droughts, the Ohio river through the fall of 1856, had been so low 
that the usual shipments of coal to the lower river ports could not be made, and 
consequently a coal famine at Cincinnati ensued. Several thousand dollars were 
contributed by the people of Allegheny County, and a large amount of coal sent 
by rail to the authorities of Cincinnati for free distribution among the poor of 
that city. 



58 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

This brief notation of a few of the minor local occurrences in Allegheny 
County from 1850 to 1860, gives a glimpse of the social, commercial, and political 
activity and atmosphere of the county during that decade. The city of Pitts- 
burgh, but just recovered from the effects of " the great fire " and the loss thereby of 
from $8,000,000 to 110,000,000 ; struggling with the depressing effects of labor 
strikes and riots ; embarrassed with the financial and commercial difficulties of a 
monetary panic ; battling with a fearful plague ; one of its great sources of busi- 
ness income cut ofi" by the closing of its river facility by low water, presents a 
combination of circumstances that might well have checked the progress of any 
county, and required courage and persistency to meet, worthy of admiration. 
Under it all the manufacturing establishments of the county increased as did the 
number of its banks, the people pushed forward their railroad enterprises, founded 
hospitals and reformatory institutions, built churches, helped found the most im- 
portant political party ever existing in the nation, and, amid it all, found time, had 
the heart to feel for, the money to care for the suffering poor of a rival city. It 
is a grand picture of a self-reliant, industrious population, a striking section in 
the panorama of the history of Allegheny County. 



CHAPTEE YI. 
From i860 to 1865. 



In the few days before the close of 1860, occurred one of the most memorable 
events in the history of Allegheny County. 

A few days previous to the 26th of December, 1860, an order came from Floyd 
the Secretary of War, to ship on that day one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, 
lying at the Allegheny Arsenal, to New Orleans, under pretext that they were 
wanted for mounting on Ship Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, on which some for- 
tifications had been begun. The intelligence of this order having gotten abroad, 
spread rapidly among the people. The Dispatch of December 25, commenting 
upon this news says : 

" Will our people submit to this ? Our citizens of all parties as a unit de- 
nounce the movement, and prominent democrats, leading Breckenridge men, have 
telegraphed to Washington to have the order revoked. * -x- -j^- -Jt * 
The people of Allegheny county should see that the cannon purchased by the 
national treasure are not conveyed to the far South, and they need not barricade 
Penn and Liberty streets to prevent it. Let them decide that no cannon shall be 
shipped till Charleston Arsenal is in possession of the Federal Government and Fort 
Moultrie reinforced, and none will be." 

The italics and capitals are as originally printed in the article, which con- 
cludes with the following significant paragraph : 



LATER HISTORY. 59 

"Arrangements were making on Monday to have some of these guns taken to- 
the wharf. We suppose some one will tap the fire bells on the route on their 
making their appearance on Penn and Liberty streets, that our people may wit- 
ness their removal." 

Another article in the same paper concludes with, " Our people are a unit 
that not a gun shall be shipped South." These extracts reflect the intense feel- 
ing that prevailed in the community. The commander of the " Silver Wave," on» 
which steamboat the guns were to be shipped, was notified that if he took the- 
cannon on board his vessel she would never pass the limits of the harbor, but 
would be sunk. The "Silver Wave" is further a historic boat, as it was the- 
first steamer to run the blockade at Vicksburg, under command of Captain John 
S. McMillan. Steps were taken to have some pieces of cannon mounted op- 
posite Brunot's island on the Allegheny side to effect that purpose as the boat 
should pass. The commander of the arsenal was called upon by a committee anJ 
requested to desist from obeying the order, on the ground that it had its origin^ 
under circumstances which contemplated treasonable results. The officer in> 
charge of the arsenal could only suggest that a rescinding of the order be obtained 
from Washington. In the mean time an informal meeting had been held on the- 
afternoon of the 25th at the Mayor's office, to take action in the matter. The- 
tone of this meeting is presented in the following extract which we quote fromu 
the Dispatch of the 26th. 

" While there is a very decided opposition to any interference with the trans- 
portation of the guns to the river, until after we have heard from Washington ,. 
and all remonstrance fails, it was equally as decided against allowing their re- 
moval from the city should the orders from Washington not be countermanded.'^ 
Another article says: "The proposed removal of cannon from the arsenal wa&. 
the all absorbing topic of conversation [that day) ; and judging from the feeling,, 
almost universally expressed, we do not doubt that the officers in command .will 
meet with a determined resistance should they attempt to execute the order of 
the Secretary of War." 

Edwin M. Stanton had at this time become, as Attorney General, a member of 
Buchanan's cabinet, and to him a committee of citizens applied to obtain a coun- 
termanding of the order. A dispatch was also sent to the President from influen- 
tial citizens, stating : " They would not be responsible for the consequences if the- 
order was not countermanded." 

A public meeting was called for Thursday, the 30th, to take action in the mat- 
ter, and hear the report of the committees which had been appointed at the pre- 
vious meetings. It was while this meeting was in session that a detachment oF 
troops, in charge of a number of guns, moved from the Arsenal to transport them' 
to the wharf for shipment on the " Silver Wave." Secretary Stanton had replied 
that there was no knowledge of the order at the department ; but no reply had yet. 
been received from the government to the telegraph of the committee. A tele- 
gram had just been read to the meeting, announcing that Colonel Anderson had^ 
withdrawn from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, when the guns and their esc( rt. 
reached Liberty street, near Wood. The excitement became intense, and most- 



<)0 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

determined expressions of intention to stop the further progress of the guns were 
made. 

The position was one of great moment. There was no doubt that the order of 
Floyd to ship the guns was given with the intention of having this large amount 
of ordnance pass into the hands of the rebels. To allow the guns to be shipped 
w^as to furriish the avowed enemies of the Union with a valuable supply of artil- 
lery. As yet, it was construed, no overt act had been committed by the South. 
To have, by force of arms, resisted a government officer in the carrying out of the 
•order of the Secretary of War was, under the circumstances, to organize armed 
resistance to the Federal government. Although no proclamation on the part of 
the government declared that the South was in rebellion, yet all acts of the 
Southern States were so plainly evidences of preconcerted rebellion that the pub- 
lic mind failed to draw the nice distinctions of law, and looked upon the well 
avowed intention as the fact. Presuming rebellion already existed from the hos- 
tile position and acts of the South, it seemed incredible that the government should 
be shipping cannon where they would be used against it, unless the government 
w^as already part of the threatened rebellion of the South against the North. If 
it were, it was clear the guns must not leave the city. If it were not, it was, be- 
yond doubt, that treasonable motives were concealed in the order, which it was 
-equally the duty of loyal citizens to apprehend. Yet, to stop the shijiping of the 
guns was to be guilty of actual resistance by loyal people to a government loyal 
to them, which the people were even then preparing to sustain with life and 
treasure. It was an hour of great and painful uncertainty, calling for coolness 
:and moderation. It can well be imagined how anxiously those who saw a duty 
on either hand, yet appreciated the difficulties of the position, counted the hours 
iintil such advice could be received from Washington as would decide the course 
to be taken. 

Through the exertions of influential citizens the troops were halted on Wood 
street, so that time might be gained in which to obtain the communication so 
much hoped for from the government. 

The line of guns and their escort extended from Virgin alley to Diamond 
valley. Fifth avenue being in the center, at the upper end of which, less tlian nine 
hundred feet distant, around the Court House, were gathered excited masses de- 
termined the cannon should not leave the city, but restrained from actual move- 
ment by the red tape of speeches, committees on resolutions, and like delays. 
'The situation was not unlike that previous to the throwing overboard of the tea 
in Boston harbor, at the outbreak of the revolution. There tlie citizens had, on 
the evening of the day on which the event occurred, gathered at Faneuil hall to 
^wait the answer of the English Governor to a committee, who had gone to re- 
quest that the vessels holding the tea might have a re-clearance and be allowed 
-to sail without landing their cargoes. Pending the return of the committee, the 
meeting was addressed by the speakers present, — when a message from the com- 
mittee was received, saying that the Governor had refused to allow the ships to 



LATER HISTORY. 61 

clear, Samuel Adams arose and said, " all has now been done that can be to pre- 
serve the peace," upon which the Indian war whoop was raised, and the famous 
body of Mohawks issuing from the hall, proceeding to the ships and began throw- 
ing over the tea. Here, at Pittsburgh, the message had gone to Washington, 
requesting the rescinding of the order shipping the cannon. Awaiting the reply 
the citizens were gathered in public meeting, and their speakers — by addresses — 
were holding the people. Two squares distant the cannon, under guard of U. S. 
soldiers, were halted until that reply could be had. The situation was quite twin 
with that of Faneuil hall. Happily, Edwin M. Stanton was the loyal, decided 
prompt man he ever proved in all the country's emergencies, and such assurances 
came from him as enabled the committee to so report as allayed the excitement of 
the people, although the order countermanding the shipment pf the cannon did 
not arrive for three or four days. 

Those who had comprehended the danger and embarrassment of the position 
drew a longer breath as the meeting quietly dispersed. The troops conveyed the 
cannon then in charge to the wharf ; no more were hauled, and in a few days 
Floyd's order was countermanded. What would have been the result had not the 
order been revoked it is not necessary even to conjecture; but the day, and the- 
hour, will not easily be forgotten by those who were active in procuring such 
action as prevented a collision between the government troops and a loyal people, 
determined to prevent, even at the risk apparent, a suicidal action on the part of" 
the government. 

It was the first decided action anywhere in the country against the rebellion. 
It was the first decided expression of the loyal North. The movement was in the 
hands of men fully as patriotic and determined as Adams and his co-adjutors, and 
the public feeling, while awaiting the countermanding of the order, was quite as- 
intense as that which pervaded Fanueil hall. It will also not fail to be seen 
how the same desire to do all that " could be done to preserve the peace," pervaded 
the action taken, and the same determination to do that which was a clear point of 
principle and duty, in event of a refusal to accede to their requests. The similarity 
of the situations is strongly apparent. 

The course of the citizens of Allegheny County from that time forward until 
the surrender of the Confederate government was in keeping with the foregoing 
action. From the time of the stopping of the shipment of the cannon until the 
firing on Sumter, the patriotic sentiment of the county was fully aroused and de- 
cided in its loyalty to the Union. There were some, however, who inclined 
strongly towards the Southern sentiment, influenced thereto by partizan regard 
for the Southern State rights interpretation of the Constitution, regardless of the 
superior rights and importance of the Union. This necessarily engendered much, 
bitter personal feeling as to individuals for a time, and was carried to such ex- 
tremes in the first few months of the Rebellion that one day, after the firing en 
Sumter, the public were electrified to see, in the gray of the morning, ropes with 
nooses attached fastened to lamp-posts on several of the pr-incipal streets of the. 



62 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

City of Pittsburgh, evidently intended as a warning to those whose sympathies 
"^■ere with the Rebellion. This action was, however, always understood to be the 
liasty action of a few individuals, and neither originated or prompted by any 
of the committees of the day. 

It has grown of late years that men are chary of using the term Rebellion in 
-speaking of the civil war, but if it was so then, it is none the less, historically, so 
flow, and in giving Allegheny County's history during that period it is proper to 
<;onsider it just as the mass of citizens of the county regarded it then, otherwise 
the record would not be historic, for history should not only give the acts, but the 
|)revailing opinions which caused the action of the time. 

While the people of Allegheny County regarded the attempt of the Southern 
States to secede from the Union as rebellion, they sympathized with the people of 
those States as individuals, in the suffering into which they were plunged by the 
sophistries and ambitions of their leaders. They had but one feeling, however, 
toward the act of secession itself. They regarded it as a political crime of great 
caagnitude, inasmuch as it not only contemplated the dissolution of the Union, 
l)ut intended as a means to perpetuate the great national sin of slavery. In the 
light of subsequent events, there is no question as to the violation of the spirit of 
the Bill of Rights and the meaning of the Declaration of Independence in the 
continuation of the individual bondage in which the African race was held, and 
the outrages enacted on humanity through its existence. 

For many years before the sentiment of Allegheny County had been opposed 
to the sin, and when for its continuance the crime of dissolving the Union was to 
be resorted to, the voice of the people could have but one expression, to be loyal 
to their own convictions. 

It was not, however, toward the individual citizens of the Southern States that 
their indignation was aroused, but against the political crime in itself and those 
who, to further their own ambitions, led the masses into the miseries of the war. 
However kindly they felt toward the people of the South in their individualities, 
or deplored the breaking of personal friendships or business relations, they were 
too decided in their loyalty toward the Union, too clear in their convictions as to 
the political crime the Southern leaders contemplated, to have any hesitation as 
to their duty to the Federal government, without regard to any previous party 
affiliations. This representation of the sentiment of the people of Allegheny 
County at that time is not drawn from a review of the occurrences of that day, 
but is an expression of one who, from position, was well informed of nearly all, 
and probably all, the public and private movements in Allegheny County dur- 
ing the civil war, and, consequently, cognizant of the general public sentiment 
•of the day. 

While the public mind was in that intense anxiety subsequent to the stopping 
of the cannon, the news of the firing on Fort Sumter was received at Pittsburgh, 
on Monday, April 15th, 1861. 



LATER HISTORY. 



63 



An immense mass meeting was held at City Hall, at which the following reso- 
lutions, prepared by John W. Kidell, City Solicitor, were read by Thomas J^ 
Bigham • 

Whereas, The national governnent is now seriously menaced by traitors in 
arms, who have defied its just authority, raised the standard of revolt, and by 
hostile acts of war disturbed the public tranquility, and endangered the public 
peace; and 

Whereas, In an exigency like the present it is the duty of all loyal and patri- 
otic American citizens, casting aside the trammels of party, to aid the constituted 
authorities in maintaining inviolate the supremacy of the constitution and the 
laws, therefore 

Resolved, By the people of Allegheny County in general mass meeting assem- 
bled, that we deem the present a fit occasion to renew our obligations of undying 
fealty to that government and that union which we have been taught to regard 
and revere as the palladium of our liberties at home and our honor abroad ; and 
in their defence and support, by whomsoever assailed, we will endeavor to prove 
ourselves worthy sons of patriotic sires. 

Resolved, That we specially approve of the course of the Legislature and ex- 
ecutive branches of our State government, in promptly responding to the call of 
the President of the United States for men and means to sustain and protect the 
National Government at this crisis in its history, and that Allegheny County will 
contribute her full quota of both to vindicate its authority. 

Resolved, That discarding all political or partizan considerations in this hour of 
our country's danger, we mutually pledge to each other as American citizens for 
the common defence, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honors. 

Resolved, That a committee of one hundred citizens be appointed by the Chair 
as a Committee of Public Safety to see that the patriot cause receives no detriment 
in this region, and to convene the people whenever in their judgment such a step 
is necessary. 

The Committee of Public Safety called for in the resolutions was appointed as 
follows : 

William Wilkins, 

Chairman. 
Wm. J. Morrison, 
James P. Barr, 
Wm. F. Johnston, 
Dr. Geo. McCook, 
John Marshall, 
T. J. Bigham, 
Joseph Dilworth, 
Charles Barnes, 
David Fitzsimmons, 
C. L. Magee, 
John Harper, 
Andrew Miller, 
James Park, Jr., 
C. H. Paulson, 
Alexander Nimick, 
N. P. Fetterman, 
John D. Scully, 
Dr. Geo. S. Hays, 
Benjamin Coursin, 



Eussell Errett, 
J. H. Foster, 
Charles McKnight, 
William Neeb, 
John D. Bailey, 
John W. Bidden, 
James A. Sewell, 
William M. Lyon, 
Thomas Bakewell, 
W. J. Howard, 
Sol. Schoyer, Jr., 
J. P. Pears, 
E. Miller, Jr., 
H. L. Bingwalt, 
George W. Wilson, 
James Reese, 
J. W. Barker, 
E. H. Patterson, 
W. K. Nimick, 
George Gallop, 
A. Nicholson, 



W. S. Lavely, 
Wm. Caldwell, 
Ed. Simpson, 
Dr. Jas. King, 
John J. Dravo, 
Jos. E. Hunter, 
W. M. Hersh, 

C. B. Bostwick, 
Nat. Holmes, Jr., 
Samuel Eiddle, 
John Scott, 
Francis Sellers, 

D. S. Stewart, 
H. A. Weaver, 

E. H. Hartley, 
J. E. Murphy, 
Geo. W. Irwin, 
John M. Irwin, 
Wm. C. Barr, 
Jas. Floyd, 
Alex. Moore, 



E. P. Jones, 
P. C. Shannon, 
E. D. Gazzam, 
Geo. P. Hamilton, 
Thos. M. Marshall, 
J. E. T. Nobb, 
Henry McCullough, 
Jas. A. Hutchinson, 
Joshua Ehodes, 
James Verner, 
John N. Tiernan, 
Thomas S. Blair, 
Samuel McKelvy, 
John N. McClowry, 
G. L. B. Fetterman, 
Max. K. Moorhead, 
George W. Cass, 
Walter H, Lowrie, 
Dr. S. Dilworth, 
David Irwin, 
And. Burke, 



64 



ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 



John Mackin, 
A. G. Lloyd, 
John J. Muse, 
W. Bagalevj 
T. M. Howe, 
C. W. Kicketson, 
Joseph Kaye, 
J. B. Poor, 
T. S. Rowley, 
James Herdman, 
Andrew Scott, 
S. H. Keller, 
David E. Bayard, 
J. E. McClintock, 
James Kelly, 
James Salsbury, 
William Martin, 



Jas. R. Hartley, 
W. G. McCartney, 
John Atwell, 
M. I. Stewart, 
Robert B. Guthrie, 
Hugh McAfee, 



Wm. Robinson, Jr., Wm. B. Holmes, 
William Bishop, D. D, Bruce, 
Harry Wainwright, Will A. Lare, 
Wm.'H. McGee, Robert Finney, 
T. J. Gallagher, , Alex. L Russell, 
Thomas Steel, '' N. P. Sawyer, 



David F. McKee, Samuel Rodgers, 

William Philips, Alfred Slack, 

William M. Edgar, C. Zug, 

Dr. L. Oldshue, John Birmingham, 

Dr. Geo. L. McCook, John Wright, 

Robert McElhern, John McDonald, 

Frederick Collier, Wm. Barnhill, Jr., Hugh Kane, 

Thos. B. Hamilton, William Owens, Samuel Cameron, 

Archibald McBride, J. M. Brush, 

Andrew Fulton, Robert Morrow, 

William Simpson, J. M. Killen, 

Alexander Hilands, C. McGee, 

George A. Berry, Col. Leopold Sahl, 

Dr. Wm. M. Simcox, John Graham, 

Alexander Speer, Wm. Holmes, 

Henry Hays, 

Adams Getty, 

Edward Gregg, 

John Dunlap, 

John C. Dunn, 

John Brown, 

John E. Parke, 

B. F. Jones. 



William Carr, 
James Bennv, Jr., 
J. B. Canlield, 
H. L. Bollman, 



R. J. Grace, 
Joseph Woodwell, 
John McDevitt, 
James B. Murray, 
James McAuley, 



Daniel Negley, 
William Woods, 
Geo. H. Thurston, 
Edw. Campbell, Jr., 
Wm. H.Smith, 
A. W. Loom is, 
William Wade, 
J. P. Penny. 



A sub-committee was appointed, consisting of William Wilkins, Thos. Bake- 
w^ell & Son, Thos. M. Howe, to prepare an address to the people of Western Penn- 
sylvania. On the succeeding day the Committee of Public Safety met for organ- 
ization, when Hon. Thos. M. Howe read the following address, which he stated, 
had been prepared by his colleague Thos. Bakewell : 

" To THE Citizens of Western Pennsylvania : 
" Friends and Fellow Citizens : 
"An unexpected emergency has arisen. That Constitution foimed ly the 
wisdom of our forefathers, that liberty established by their labors, that indepen- 
dence sealed and sanctioned by their life blood, are menaced, not by the hos- 
tility of foreign enemies, but by the reckless ambition of domestic traitors and 
aspiring demngogues, who have long partaken of the blessing of our free gov- 
ernment, and enjoyed their full proportion of its emoluments and privileges. 
Their unhallowed passions have plunged our beloved country into the horrors 
of a civil war, and have in some measure exposed our homes, our families, and 
our firesides, to the desecration and ruin of hostile incursions. Under these alarm- 
ing circumstances this committee has been organized, not to supercede the 
action of ordinary tribunals, not to interfere wiihthe exercise of judicial power, 
but to aid the constituted authorities of our land in the preservation of the 
public peace, the protection and support of those whose natural defenders may 
be absent on the call of patriotic duty ; and if need be (which may God forbid), 
to report for judicial action all persons who, false to every dictate of duty and 
patriotism, may secretly contribute that aid and comfort to the enemy which they 
will not dare publicly to acknowledge. 



LATER HISTORY. 65 

" Diversified as may be our business avocations, our national predilection, 
our religious opinions, or our political sentiments on this momentous subject we 
address you, not as farmers or manufacturers, or merchants or lawyers ; not as 
Irishmen, or Germans, as Englishmen, or Welshmen ; not as Catholics or Pro- 
testants : not as Democrats or Republicans; but as citizens, as Americans and 
Pennsylvanians : and as such we call upon you to unite as one man in the sup- 
port of those glorious institutions under which our country has attained a 
growth and prosperity unequalled in the past history of the world. Let your 
young men advance to meet the threatening invaders, your old citizens organize 
for the defence of their domestic hearths. Let ample provision be made for the 
support of the families of those patriots who may leave home and its pleasures 
for the stern duties of the tented field. Let a spirit of mutual forebearance and 
charity prevail. Losing sight of all minor differences in the great object of our 
country's salvation, and above all, relying on the justice of our cause, let us 
unite in the determination to transmit to posterity the inestimable blessing of 
liberty received from our ancestors, in calm yet earnest dependence upon the 
support and approval of Him who rules the nations with His rod, and without 
whose notice not a sparrow falls to the ground." 

The hand that penned this admirable appeal has for years been dust. Living 
to see transmitted " to posterity the inestimable blessing of liberty received from 
our ancestors," he bore his share in the labors and sacrifices of the hour, in the 
same spirit that prompted the words of the address. 

The address was received with loud demonstrations of applause, unanimously 
adopted and ordered published with the names of the whole committee attached, and 
to be read from the pulpits of the various churches on the following Sunday, and once 
in each of the public schools. The general committee then proceeded to organize 
with the following officers and sub-committees : Pesident, Hon. William Wilkins; 
Vice Presidents, Thos. M. Howe, Hon. William F. Johnston, William Bagaley, 
John Birmingham, James P. Barr, Gen. George W. Cass. Secretaries, William 
M. Hersh, John W. Eidell, George H. Thurston, William Woods, Joseph E. 
Hunter, Thomas B. Hamilton. Treasurer, James McAuley. Finance Committee, 
Eeuben Miller, Jr., B. F. Jones, M. K. Morehead, W. J. Morrison, James A. 
Hutchinson, W. S. Bissell. Executive Committee, which was ordered to sit in 
permanent session and, by a secretary, keep a record of its proceedings, William 
T. Johnston, Thos. M. Howe, Jas. M. Park, Jr., George P. Hamilton, Thos. S, 
Blair, Jas. H. Sewell, Jas. McAuley, Jas. B. Murray, William M. Lyon, Thos. 
Steele, Wm. R. Brown, Jas. Herdman, John R. McCune, Chas. W. Batchelor, Wm. 
M. Shinn, Wm. Phillips, B. C. Sawyer, A. C. Alexander, John Harper, Wm. 
Robinson, Jr., W. K. Nimick, Jas. M. Cooper, Francis Felix, Francis Sellers, 
Felix R. Brunot, Thos. Bakewell, Jas. A. Hutchinson, Henry McCullough, J. E. 
Parke, Reuben Miller, Jr., Edward Gregg, Geo. W. Cass, Wm. J. Morrison, Isaac 
Jones, M. Swartzwelder, Wm. Coleman, Dr. Geo. McCook, Sr., P. C. Shannon, E. 
H. Stowe, Wm. Wilkins, Jas. P. Barr, B. F. Jones, F. J. Bigham, Geo. H. Thurs- 
& 



66 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

ton, John Myler, Jas. P. Tanner, Samuel M. Wickersliam, Joseph French, Robert 
Ashworth, Samuel Eiddle, John M. Tiernan. 

The Executive Committee organized with Hon. Wm. F. Johnston as chairman, 
and selected Geo. H. Thurston from its members for its secretary. A committee 
of Home Defence was also organized, consisting of P. C. Shannon, chairman ; 
John M. Tiernan, secretary ; Jas. Park, Jr., Wm. Phillips, C. L. Magee, T. J, 
Bigham, John Birmingham, Samuel Eiddle, Col. Ed. Simpson, Thos. M. Marshall. 
John Harper. 

Also a committee on Transit of Munitions of War. Joseph Dilworth, chair- 
man ; Eobert Finney, secretary ; Dr. E. D. Gazzam, Dr. Geo. McCook, Sr., Dr. J. 
R. McClintock, Henry Hays, Dr. Fundenburg, W. H. Smith, W. M. Hersh. 

Also a committee on Support of Volunteers not yet Accepted by the Govern- 
ment. William Holmes, chairman ; Joshua Rhodes, Alex. Speer, W. J. Howard, 
E. H. Patterson, John W. Eiddle, Samuel McKelvey, Dr. Gallaher. 

Also a committee for the Aid of the Families of Volunteers. Thos. Bakewell, 
chairman; G. L. B. Fetterman, secretary; Josiah King, John P. Pears, W. B. 
Holmes, John M. Irwin. 

The several committees were directed to report daily to the Executive Com- 
mittee, and be governed by their advice and directions. For several months the 
Executive Committee was in continuous session day and nighty having been divided 
into sub-committees of three, who were in session three hours each, reporting each 
day to the whole meeting of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee 
continued to perform their duties through the war. Those duties were various 
and onerous and at times delicate, and the Committee did not finally disolve until 
1874 when at a meeting held, March 28th, at the office of Gen. Thos. M. Howe, 
for the purpose of disposing of the papers of the committee, and finally closing its 
business, Geo. H. Thurston, its secretary, was, by resolution, instructed to examine 
its books and papers, and make a report upon the same with any suggestions that 
might occur to him. On the 9th of December, Mr. Thurston made a report which 
was accepted, and he was directed to seal up such books and papers as were of 
record and make some safe disposition of them for posterity, and the Committee 
adjourned sine die, the General Committee of Public Safety having ceased to act 
at the close of the war. « 

From that report the following extract is made, as exhibiting briefly, not 
only the scope of the committee's action, but also the spirit that governed them 
in the performance of many matters that came before them in the two first 
years of the war. Says the report : " There were three divisions to the actions 
of the committee. The first extended from April 18th to Sept. 16th, 1861, from 
which latter date until Sept. 4th, 1862, no meetings were held, or if held its pro- 
ceedings for reasons were not recorded. From September 4th, 1862 until April 28, 
] 863, is recorded as the second series of the sessions of the Committee. The third 
series of its sessions were from June 15th to July 4th, 1863, held while the city was 
being fortified during the invasion of Pennsylvania by the rebel army under Gen. 



LATER HISTORY. 67 

Lee. The action of these latter sessions were rather those of the Committee of 
Public Safety, and the citizens generally, under the direction of the officers of the 
-executive committee, and as such their proceedings were daily published in the 
papers of the city, instead of being recorded in the minute book of the Executive 
Ciommittee, being deemed to be the action of the general public. The records of 
the action of the Executive Committee preserved in its minute book, is that of 
the two first series of its sessions. The first of those sessions from April 1 8th to 
September 16th, 1861, is the period of time in which the more delicate duties of 
the Committee were performed, and when the attendance was confined to the im- 
mediate and original members. The second series from Sept. 4th, 1862 to April 
28th, 1863, were participated in by members of other committees, created by the 
General Committee of Public Safety, as the sessions indicate. Its actions were 
confined during those sessions within those dates, to the raising of volunteers, the 
procuring of arms, the formation of camps, and the organizing of Home Defense 
Troops. The last recorded meeting of the Executive Committee as a close com- 
mittee, being, as before stated, on April 28th, 1863, when action was taken to for- 
ward citizen troops to Brownsville to meet the rebel raid into Morgantown. 

" At the period of the formation of the Executive Committee of the Committee 
of Public Safety of Allegheny County the people were placed in a position with- 
out precedent in the history of the nation. 

"It was evidently forecasted in the minds of the members of the Executive 
•Committee that there might be duties to perform, actions to be taken, and matters 
to consider which it were well should be kept within the knowledge of its own 
members, and therefore at its first meeting the following resolution was passed 
and adopted: 

^^ Resolved, That this committee sit with closed doors, and that its proceedings 
shall be secret and confidential until otherwise ordered. 

"The resolution remains in force, it never having been otherwise ordered, only 
so far as relates to some few resolutions that were thought advisable to publish in 
the papers of the day. 

" It was the impression among the members when ten years ago the records 
were placed in a safe depository by the secretary that there were those records on 
the minutes and in the papers of the committee not prudent to be known to the 
public, which by injudicious persons or personal enemies might be used to the 
injury of fellow-citizens or the members of the committee. This impression 
seems to have been derived more from their memory of things not recorded than 
from records made, and from recollections of discussions had on questions before 
them for decision. 

" While Sve come to bury Caesar, not to praise him,' yet I may fitly say without 
offence, that the wisdom with which the duties of the various committees were 
performed so as to conserve the good of all without injury to any, seems to have 
held censorship over its minutes, which show no record of aught injurious to the 
reputation or interest of any. Only such action as indicated the precautions taken 



68 ALLEGBEyY COUNTY'S 

to subserve the public good having been recorded, leaving to the burial of forget- 
fulness in happier days, any and all criminations and aspersions, arising from the- 
unnatural, political, and social relations in which the peculiarities of the times- 
temporarily placed citizens of the same community. From the same governing 
motives no papers have been preserved, other than those necessary to the explan- 
ation of the resolutions adopted, or sub-committees created, all of which are 
honorable to those named therein. It had been thought, and it had always been 
brooding in the mind of your secretary, that if on examination the records were^ 
such as rendered it well they should not be left for public criticism and animad- 
version, in the days when they who were of the committee should have ceased to 
be, that some brief history of the committee and its action should be made for 
posterity. One object of the duty which was assigned to your secretary, in March 
last, was to this end. An examination of the papers and records of the committee^ 
shows that they may as they stand fitly, as its best history, pass down to posterity 
unchanged and unexpurgated, as a monument of patriotic duties assiduously per- 
formed, without a scar to personal reputation, or a suspicion to haunt, like a ghostly 
shadow, an individual name. The times in which the committee was created, the 
circumstances by which its members were surrounded, the grave duties they were 
called upon to perform, renders the action of the body an episode in the history of 
the country and of Allegheny County. 

" In the records of this committee, and in the journals of the day, will be found 
all those proudest of its membership could desire. The records of the committee 
fully indicate the part borne by the members in the discharge of its duties. That 
record of all records, the newspapers of those days, have frequent and honorable 
mention of the names of all the members of this committee serving in prominent 
and arduous performance of public duties demanded by the times. 

"To what the minutes and the journals of the day bear testimony in the daily 
recital of the labors performed by the various members, their reports, their ad- 
dresses to the public, their appeals to the patriotism of the people, their speeches 
to the troops, their subscriptions to patriotic funds, there is no word to be added, 

"It were best there should not be. In themselves the photograph of the hour^ 
no invidious distinctions are made, no personal partiality swerves the pen, but each 
passes down to posterity dressed in that garb of duty, in that attitude of public 
service in which the hour found him." 

Eecurring to the point of the formation of the Committee of Public Safety^ 
from whence a digression was necessary to present its history correctly, the records 
show that on the 15th of April, 1861, recruiting began for the troops for the 
army, and on the 17th a company called "The Turner Guards" left for Harris- 
burg. 

At the second meeting of the Committee of Public Safety Hon. P. C. Shannon 
offered a resolution that each ward, borough and township in the county of Alle- 
gheny be requested to form a company of not less than fifty men for home de- 
fense; that this organization, for the present, be merely a volunteer one, nol 



LATER HISTORY. 69 

•subject to any other authority than that of the Committee of Public Safety, it 
being proposed that this organization "shall be the nucleus for future recruits for 
the public service of the country." 

Under this plan of action companies were quickly formed. These companies 
were armed and equipped from a fund contributed by the banks, through the 
efforts of John Harper, president of the Bank of Pittsburgh, and also a member 
of the Home Guard Committee. He was the custodian of the fund, and disbursed 
it for the purposes for which it was contributed. On the 4th of July, 1861, a 
parade of the Home Guard companies, under the command of Major General 
William Wilkins, was had for inspection and review, the following companies 
ibeing in line : Union Cavalry, thirty-five men ; Mattern Guards, fifty men ; Howe 
Infantry, sixty-five men; U. S. Zauave Cadets, twenty-eight men; Koener Guards, 
sixty-two men ; Bagaley Guards, forty men ; Kensington Guards, forty-eight men ; 
Second Ward Home Guard, sixty-seven men ; Ricketson Guards, fifty men ; East 
Xiberty Home Guards, fifty men ; Glenwood Home Guards, forty men ; Swissvale 
Home Guards, fifty- three men; Wilkinsburg Home Guards, fifty-eight men; 
Braddock's Field Home Guards, fifty-four men ; Oak Hill Guards, forty-eight 
men; Oakland Guards, thirty-eight men; Versailles Guards, forty-two men; Penu 
Township Home Guards, sixty-six men ; Keystone Rifles, forty men ; Seventh 
Ward Home Guards, thirty-two men; Sharpsburg Rifles, eighty-five men; First 
Ward Allegheny Rifles, sixty-five men ; Shannon Rifles, forty men ; Arsenal Rifles 
thirty men : Allegheny Zouaves, thirty-two men ; Stueben Guards, forty men ; Har- 
per Zouaves, fifty men; Fort Pitt Artillery, thirty -six men; Leet Guards, thirty- 
eight men ; Allegheny Grays, sixty men ; Anderson Infantry, thirty-six men ; 
Twin City Rangers, forty-two men ; Madison Guards, sixty men ; Duquesne Guards, 
fifty -six men ; Duquesne Cadets, twenty-eight men ; Shaler Home Guards, sixty 
men ; Keystone Home Guards, forty-two men ; Duquesne Home Guards, thirty- 
six men ; Third Ward Home Guards, fifty-two men ; Allegheny Zouave Cadets, 
forty-four men ; East Birmingham Guards, forty -six men ; Rich Valley Home 
Guards, fifty-four men : Union Guards, fifty-two men ; South Pittsburgh Infantry, 
sixty men ; Dilworth Guards, fifty -seven men ; Ellsworth Guards, forty men ; 
Dower St. Clair Guards, forty-eight men ; West Pittsburgh Guards, fifty men ; 
West Diberty Guards, forty -five men ; East Birmingham Guards, forty -four men; 
Dawrenceville Guards, forty men; Fifth Ward Guards, Company A, forty-eight 
men; Fifth Ward Guards, Company B, fifty-two men; Fifth Ward Home Guard, 
forty-eight men; Jefferson Guards, (Eighth Ward, Pittsburgh,) fifty-four men; 
8cott Rifles, forty-eight men ; Second Ward Rifles, forty-four men ; Union Rifles, 
, (South Pittsburgh,) fifty-two men ; Duquesne Central Guard, fifty-six men ; Park 
Rifles, forty-two men ; Eighth Ward Rifles, forty-two men ; Columbia Rifles, fifty- 
six men ; Bradley Greys, thirty-eight men ; Dalzell Zouaves, twenty-six men. 
The number of men and non-commissioned officers in the ranks were 3,077, and, 
including company, regimental, and brigade officers, 3,300. 

This detailed record is given not only because it is a part of the history of 
Allegheny County, but as an act of justice to the Home Guard and its projectors. 



70 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

because of the many sneers made at the time and since at this organization of 
soldiers. The organization formed just what the committee intended and be- 
lieved it would be — "the nucleus of future recruits for the public service of the 
country." There was not one of the sixty-four companies that did not contribute- ' 
largely from its members to the several companies and regiments that under the- 
various calls for troops by the government went to the front, furnishing thus not 
only new recruits, but those already drilled in the school of the soldier and, to 
some extent, in company and regimental drill, and consequently more immedia- 
tely effective troops. Not only effective troops, but able company and regimental' 
commanders and distinguished general officers as well were furnished from this 
school of the soldier. 

The city and the county should be as proud of their Home Guard as of any 
other of their patriotic organizations and volunteer regiments. It was, so ta 
speak, the West Point of Allegheny County, which fully justified in its results 
the hopes of the projectors of the organization and their preconceived ideas as to- 
its importance. Although there were many in it who did not go to the tented 
field, men too old, or youths too young, if there were enough without them, as 
there were, many whose duties at home were of greater service to the country 
than their presence in the field could have been, yet they, in becoming a Home- 
Guard, gave prestige, from their social and business standing, to the organization 
and inspired an esprit du corps that followed many a company recruited or volun- 
teered out of the Home Guards for actual service to the field. 

The subjoined record of companies and regiments recruited in Allegheny^ 
County during the war, and actually in the field, is thought to be nearly, if not 
quite, correct, and is a proud record of the county's patriotism : 

Company I, of Third Regiment, recruited at East Liberty, Allegheny County;: 
mustered in April 28th, 1861 ; mustered out July 23d, 1861. 

Companies A, B and K, of Fifth Regiment, recruited in Allegheny County;: 
mustered in April 20th, 1861 ; mustered out July 23d, 1861. 

Companies A, B, E, F and K, of Seventh Regiment, recruited in Allegheny 
County ; mustered in April 23d, 1861 ; mustered out 23d of July, 1861. 

Companies A, B, C, D, I and K, of Twelfth Regiment, recruited in Allegheny 
county; mustered in April 28th, 1861; mustered out August 5th, 1861. 

Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, I and K, of Thirteenth Regiment, recruited in 
Allegheny County ; mustered in 25th of April, 1861 ; mustered out 6th of August,, 
1861. This regiment organized again for three years' service, and was known as^ 
the One Hundred and Second Regiment. 

Company K, of Fourteenth Regiment, Company L, of Twenty-eighth Regi- 
ment, recruited in Allegheny County. Knaps Battery, Company E, of the Twenty-^ 
eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, was also attached to the regiment. The regi- 
ment participated in the following battles, in which Company L and Knaps Battery 
took part: Pi teller's Mills, Point of Rocks, Berlin, Knoxville, Bolivar Heights^, 
London Heights, Middleburg, Salem, White Plains, Warrenton, Piedmont, Front. 



LATER HISTORY. 71 

Koyal, Cedar Mountains, Antietam, second battle of Ball's Run, Winchester, Chan- 
cellorsville, Gettysburg, Murfree's Boro, Winhatctue, Lookout Mountain, Mission- 
ary, Ringgold, Mill Creek and Snake Creek Gaps, NeAv Hope Church, Pine Knob, 
Pine Hill, Lost Mountain, Muddy Creek, Nose Creek, Kolb's Farm, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek, Pace's Ferry, and March to the Sea. 
Mustered in June 28th, 1861 ; mustered out July 18th, 1865. Thirtieth Regi- 
ment, First Reserve. 

Companies E, B and C, of Thirty-seventh Regiment, Eighth Reserve, recruited 
in Allegheny County; organized June 28th, 1861; mustered out May 4th, 1864. 
Battles — Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Bull's Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, the 
Wilderness 

Thirty-eighth Regiment, Ninth Reserve, recruited in Allegheny County, ex- 
cept Companies F and H; organized on June 28th, 1861; mustered out May 13th, 
1864. Battles — Dranesville, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Bull's Run, Junction of 
Newmarket, Charles City and Quaker Roads, Chantilly, Turner's Gap, Antietam, 
Fredericksburg and Round Top. 

Company K, of Forty-fourth Regiment, First Cavalry, recruited in Allegheny 
and Washington Counties; mustered in September, 1861; mustered out September 
9th, 1864. Battles — Strusburg, Woodstock, Harrisonburg. They supported Knaps 
Battery at Cedar Mountain, Bull's Run, Fredericksburg, Brandy Station, Aldie, 
Gettysburg, Muddy Run, Beverly Ford, Mine Run, General Sheridan's raid on 
Richmond, Malvern Hill, Grovel Hill, twin sister to Malvern Hill, Ream's Station 
and front of Petersburg. 

Companies B and F, of Forty-sixth Regiment, recruited in Allegheny County; 
mustered in September, 1861; mustered out July 16th, 1865. Battles — First en- 
gagement in front of Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Gettysburg, Resaca, Atlanta, 
Chancellorsville, Kenesaw Mountain, Dallas, Peach Tree Creek, and Sherman's 
March to the Sea. 

Company K, of Forty-ninth Regiment, recruited at Pittsburgh ; mustered in 
April 14th, 1861 ; mustered out July 15th, 1865. 

Companies C and E, of Fifty-seventh Regiment, recruited in Allegheny and 
Mercer counties ; mustered in June 29th, 1865. 

Companies B, C, E, F, H and K, of Sixty-first Regiment, recruited in Allegheny 
County previous to August, 1861. Companies H, I and K were mustered in Feb- 
ruary, 1861. The regiment was organized in August, 1861; mustered out June 
28th, 1865. Battles— Fair Oaks, Turkey Bend, preliminary to the battle of Mal- 
vern Hill, Fredericksburg, Mary's Heights, Rappahannock Station, Wilderness, 
Winchester, Antietam, and Cedar Creek. 

Companies A., B., F., G., K. and L. of Sixty-Second Regiment recruited in 
Allegheny county. Mastered in July 1861, Mastered out July 13ih, 1864. 
Battles, — Malvern Hill, Harrison's Bar, Gainesville, Second Battle of Bull's Run, 
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickahominy, Antietam, Mary's 
Heights, Spottsylvania, Norfolk and Petersburg Rail Road, Jerusalem Plank 
Road, and the Wilderness. 



72 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Companies A., B., C, D., E., H., I. and K. and part of G. of Sixty-Third 
Regiment recruited in Allegheny county. Mustered in Aug., 1861. Mustered 
out Sept, 9th, 1864. Battles, — Charles City Cross Eoads, Malvern Hill, Second 
Battle of Bull's Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, North Anna River, Locust 
Grove, Coal River, Gettysburg, Kell's Ford, and Siege of Petersburg. 

Companies B., E., and G. of Sixty-Fourth Regiment Fourth Cavalry, recruit- 
ed in Allegheny county, Mustered in October 18th, 1861. Mustered out July 
1st, 1865. Battles, — Peninsula Campaign, Chiekahominy, Malvern Hill, Harri- 
son's Landing, Mechanicsville, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilder- 
ness, Second Swamp, Plank Road, Hatchers Run, and Dinwiddle. 

Companies L. and M,, of Sixty-Fifth Regiment recruited in Allegheny county, 
part of M. being secured in Yenango county. Mustered in from .July 7 to Oct. 
lo. Mustered out August 7th, 1865. Battles, — Chancellorsville, Peninsula Cam- 
paign, and Petersburg Campaign. 

Company I. of Sixty-seventh Regiment recruited in Allegheny county. 
Mustered in April 1865. Mustered out July 14th, 1865. 

Companies B., C, D., E., F., G., H., I. and part of K. of the Thirty-fifth Pemi'a 
Regiment afterwards Seventy-fourth Regiment recruited in Allegheny county. 
Mustered in as the Thirty -fifth Penna Regiment on the 14th of September 1861. 
Mustered out August, 1865. Battles — Chancellorsville, Cross Keys, Cedar Moun- 
tain, Freeraans Ford, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and service i'h South Carolina. 
Part of Company K of the Seventy-sixth Regiment. 

Companies B., C, D., and E. of the Seventy-seventh Regiment recruited in 
Allegheny county. Company B., mustered in Sept. 8th, 1861. Mustered out 
December 6th, 1865. Other two companies only three months service. Battles, — 
Stone River, Pittsburgh Landing, Liberty Gap, Murfreesboro, Peach Tree Creek, 
Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, New Hope Church, Franklin and Nashville. 

Extra companies F., I. and H., of Seventy-eighth Regiment recruited in Alle- 
gheny county. Mustered in March, 1865. Mustered out September 11th, 1865. 

Company M. and part of H. of Eightieth Regiment of Seventh Cavalry, re- 
cruited in Allegheny county. Mustered in October 1861. Mustered out August 
23d, 1865. Battles, — Murfreesboro, Stone River, Shelbyville, Nashville, Salem, 
and Columbus. 

Company B., of Eighty-second regiment, recruited in Allegheny county. Mus- 
tered in August, 1861. Mustered out 13th, July 1865. Battles, — Fair Oaks, 
Charles City Cross Roads, Fredericksburg, Malvern Hill, Salem Heights, Cold 
Harbor, Gettysburg, Winchester, and Shenandoah ^"alley. 

Two extra companies G. and H., of Eighty-third Regiment recruited in Alle- 
gheny county. Mustered in March 2nd, 1865. Mustered out June 28th, 1865. 

Extra companies G. and F. of Eighty-seventh Regiment recruited in Alle- 
gheny county. Mustered in March 1st, 1865. Mustered out June 1365. Com- 
panies I. and E., One Hundred and First Regiment recruited in Allegheny county, 
and companies A. and G. partially recruited. Mustered in at various dates in the 



LATER HISTORY, 73 

Fall of 1861. Mustered out 23rd of June 1865. Battles,— Williamsburg, Fair 
Oaks, Siege of Little Washington. The entire regiment with the exception of a 
few were captured at Plymouth. 

One Hundred and Second Regiment, which sprang from the Thirteenth Eegi- 
ment. The whole Regiment recruited in Allegheny county except part of com- 
pany H. Mustered in chiefly in August, 1861. Mustered out 28th of June 1865. 
Battles, — Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Chancellorsville and Gettys- 
burg. This regiment was reinlisted from the Thirteenth nearly all responding, 
and became a veteran regiment, and was entitled to a veteran's furlough. Later 
Battles, — Wilderness Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg Siege, Winchester, 
Appomattox, Salem Heights and Fishers Hill. 

Company C, of One Hundred and Third Regiment, and part of Companies F, 
K and I, recruited in Allegheny County ; mustered in 24th of February, 1861 ; 
mustered out June 25th, 1865. Battles — Fair Oaks, Williamsburg and Malvern 
Hill. Surrendered at Plymouth. 

Part of Company D, of One Hundred and Fifth Regiment ; Company E,.^f 
One Hundred and Seventh Regiment. 

Of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Regiment, Companies F and I^re- 
cruited at Tarentum ; part of Company H, from Greene County, and the rest from 
Allegheny County; equipped and armed the 29th of August, 1862; mustered out 
May 13th, 1863. Battles — Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg. In nine months' 
service. 

Companies E, F, G and H, of One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Regiment ; re- 
cruited in Allegheny County; organized on the 20th of August, 1862; mustered 
out May 29th, 1863. Battles — Fredericksburg, Mud March and Chancellorsville. 
In nine months' service. 

One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Regiment were all from Allegheny County, 
except part of Companies E and I; organized at Camp Howe September 1st, 
1862; mustered out .Tune 21st, 1865. Battles — Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, 
Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, Wilderness, in the operations about Spottsylva- 
nia Court House, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, and Winchester, in the Shenandoah 
Valley. 

Of the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Regiment and of the Fourteenth Cav- 
alry many of the men were fiom Allegheny County. The regiment participated 
in a number of battles. 

All the companies, except G and H, composing the One Hundred and Fifty- 
fifth Regiment were recruited in Allegheny County ; mustered in September 5th, 
1863; mustered out June 2d, 1865. Battles — Antietam, Fredericksburg, Mary's 
Heights, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Round Top and Little Round Top, Rappa- 
hannock Station, Mine Rock, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Cold Harbor, Peeble's 
Farm, Hatcher's Run, Quaker's Road, Gravelly. Run, Five Forks, Sailor's Creek, 
Tolopotomy, Dadney's Mill, Jericho Ford. 



74 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Of the One Hundred and Sixtieth, One Hundred and Sixty-third and One 
Hundred and Sixty-eighth Kegiments a large number of the men were recruited 
in Allegheny County. 

Batteries A, B, C, E, F and H, of the Two Hundred and Fourth Eegiment,. 
Fifth Artillery; mustered in September 10th, 1864; one year men; mustered out 
at the end of term. 

Batteries B, C, D, E, F, G, H and L, of the Two Hundred and Twelfth Kegi- 
ment, Sixth Artillery; organized at Camp Keynolds, near Pittsburgh, September 
15th, 1864; one year men. 

Companies A, C and D, of First Battalion ; six months' cavalry. 

Companies A and C, First Battalion, Pennsylvania Infantry. 

Companies A, B, C, and D, First Battallion, Artillery; one-hundred day men. 

Company G, of First Maryland Cavalry. 

Two companies of negro troops in the Fifiy-fourth Massachusetts Regiment. 

Friend Rifles in a New York regiment. 

Thompson's Battery, Independent Battery C; mustered in November 6thy 
1861; mustered out June 30th, 1865. Battles — Cedar Mountain, Second Bull 
Run, South Mountain, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mitchell's 
Ford. 

Hampton's Battery, Independent Battery F; mustered in October, 1861 ; mus- 
tered out June 26th, 1865. Battles — Cross Keys, South Mountain, Middletown^ 
Winchester, White Sulphur, Waterloo, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Fall's Churchy 
W^hite Hall Church, Antietam, Charlestown, Peach Orchard, Blackburn's Ford, 
Mine Run, Chancellorsville. 

Youngs Battery, Independent Battery G, mustered in August 21st, 1862 ; mus- 
tered out June 18th, 1865; mostly employed in garrison duty. Nevin's Battery, 
Independent Battery H, mustered in September 30th, 1862; mustered out June 
18th, 1865. Knapp's Battery, see Fourteenth Regiment. Independent Bat- 
tery, six months men, one company. Union Cavalry and Morehead Cavalry, one 
company each. Pittsburgh Fire Zouaves, mustered in June 14th, 1861, three 
years. Of this company no record appears of its assignment, or when mustered 
out. Fifteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, mustered in September 15th, 
1862; one hundred day men. 

Pittsburgh Independent Scouts; Spang Infantry ; Wood Guards; Minute Rifle- 
men; Plummer Guards; Anderson Infantry; one company each. 

Pennsylvania Dragoons ; National Cavalry ; Young's Cavalry; Faith's Cavalry ; 
Bagaley Cavalry; Keystone Cavalry; one company each. 

There were, no doubt, other single companies from Allegheny county, who 
were accepted in the regiments of other States, but there is no records that enables 
them to be traced. Of these there were two companies among the West Virginia 
troops. It has been computed by those best informed, that over 20,000 of the men 
of Allegheny County, in some organization, either military or naval, bore arms in 
defense of the Union. The battles in which they participated has been to some 



LATER HISTORY. 75 

extent given, but there is no question that many have been omited from want of 
information, as well as the minor skirmishes and " affairs." Enough has been 
given to show that the troops from " Old Allegheny " were no holiday soldiers^ 
and upheld the honor of the county grandly on many a "well fought day." 

The women of the county were side by side in their patriotic sentiments with 
their fathers, husbands, and brothers, and through their assistance, on August 1st 
1861, was organized a Subsistence Committee, for the purpose of furnishing meals^ 
to all the troops passing through the city. 

The Subsistence Committee was the outgrowth of the personal efforts of two of 
Pittsburgh's leading manufacturers, to improvise a hasty lunch for a regiment 
which was among the first troops from the west to pass through the city. They^ 
procured some boxes of crackers and some boxes of cheese from a retail grocery 
store, and rolled the boxes, with their own hands, along the street to where the- 
troops were resting. The next day arrangements were made to prepare a meal for 
all troops passing through the city. It was soon found that more time would be 
required to have these meals served "decently and in order," than the business 
men could spare from their business and other duties, and it was proposed that the- 
women of the two cities should take the matter in charge. It was with some- 
hesitation that this was adopted, as from the rude and reckless actions of some of 
the troops it was feared it would be unpleasant, to say the least, for ladies. It 
proved otherwise, many of the most cultured women of the two cities eagerly ac- 
cepting the duty, and their presence and their serving at those dinners, breakfasts^ 
and luncheons, was received by the troops as a compliment; there never was 
occasion to complain of a rude action or word from any of the thousands of soldiers 
of all nationalities, who were thus cared for by the Subsistence Committee, and 
the whole business of the committee was carried on by the women of AUegheny^ 
County. The first regiment was dined July 26th, 1861, a few days before the 
committee was fully organized. From that time until January, 1866, when it 
finally dissolved, no body of troops passed through the city, whether by night or 
day, without being furnished with a breakfast, lunch, dinner, or supper. The 
movement was purely voluntary, and sustained by personal contributions. 

During the period of its organization, 469,745 soldiers were fed, not only the 
loyal troops but occasionally squads of rebel prisoners. In addition to which?- 
79,460 sick and wounded soldiers were cared for at the Soldiers Home, some of 
whom were prisoners of war from the Confederate army. It was not alone in this 
work that the women of Allegheny County expressed their loyalty and devotion 
to the Union. The old Scotch and Irish blood of the matrons who, in the early 
days of Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt, fought the Indians with their male relatives- 
in their log cabins and block houses, showed itself in their daughters. Every 
ward of the city, many of the townships and small villages, every church and, 
public school had its coterie of women, busy preparing boxes of clothing and 
delicacies for the camp hospitals, and not a few went with the boxes to take upoi^ 
themselves the duties of nurses. For it was not alone in furnishing trooj)s for the 



76 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

battle field, or by standing ready by night or by day to cheer with a breakfast, or 
•dinner, or supper, served by Pittsburgh's fairest faces and whitest hands the pass- 
ing soldier, grim with the smoke of battle and weary with his march, that the 
patriotism of Pittsburgh women kept step in the line of duty ; their hearts were 
away in the camp, reaching out to the bivouac, sorrowing beside the hospital 
-couch, or grieving over the wounded on the battle field. 

It was also after the battle of Shiloh that the great heart of Pittsburgh went 
throbbing with sympathy over the story of the wounded of that terrible day ; nor 
Tested until two well appointed steambDats sailed for Shiloh, carrying some of 
Pittsburgh's most manly hearts and skillful surgeons to that distant battlefield, to 
■gather into those boats, under the care of those surgeons and tender nurses, the 
-wounded, and bring them to Pittsburgh for restoration to liealth. As the boats 
proceeded up the river, those of the wounded who desired it were left at cities and 
landings as near their homes as possible. Fifty-four were brought to Pittsburgh ; 
•of whom eight belonged to Iowa regiments, seventeen to Illinois, seventeen to 
Michigan, three to Ohio, three to Missouri, two — who were prisoners of war — to 
Alabama, and three whose State or regiment was not recorded. Of these eight 
■<died in the hospital ; being two from Iowa, two from Illinois, and four from Michi- 
gan. Forty-two were regularly discharged on recovering, and helped on their 
way with tickets to their homes. 

In 1863, while Grant was besieging Vicksburg, the Secretary of War applied 
to the Board of Trade to appoint a committee to superintend the construction of 
three iron dads, so called, to be used on the Mississippi river at that siege. These 
boats were constructed on a plan of Captain Eads, of Mississippi Jetty fame. They 
were three staunch river boats, which were cased above the water line with heavy 
one-fourth inch iron plates, and intended more to protect the troops upon them 
from musketry than artillery. They rendered the service for which they were in- 
stended. At the same time one hundred mortar boats were built by Watson & 
Munroe. These boats were formed of iron plates, nine feet long, 4 feet wide, and 
€ve sixteenths inches thick, pierced with a three inch port hole in each plate for 
rifle firing. These plates were shipped by the car load to St. Louis, where they 
were put together. The ends of the boats were constructed to be let down, so that 
they could be used as pontoons if necessary. The work of constructing these boats 
was prosecuted night and day, and were a part of the plan of War Department in 
Hconnection with the iron clads mentioned above. 

Soon after the recruiting began, in 1861, a Belief Committee, to provide for 
the wants of the families of volunteers who had come forward at the first call for 
-troops, leaving, in many cases, their families unprovided for. This committee was 
formed under the direction of the Finance Committee of the Committee of Public 
Srfety, and on the 15th of June, two months after the first company left for the 
battlefields, had 750 families on their roll. Cash, dry goods and groceries were 
iiberally contributed by the business men of the city, and |24,251.90 were thus 
•contributed and distributed during the summer of 1861. In the fall and winter of 



LATER HISTORY. 77 

1816, the Belief Committee was organized under an Act of Legislature. The 
County Commisioners assumed the distribution of relief, and a three mill tax levied 
to meet the expenditure. For the year 1861 the sum assessed was |55,775, and 
for 1862 the amount was $54,927. This sum was exhausted by August of 1862, 
when the last relief under this organization was paid out, although in other pri- 
vate ways the payment of reliefs to the families of soldiers in the field was con- 
tinued. 

Sunday evening, June 14th, 1863, was another notable date in the history of 
Allegheny, and the beginning of a short period of public excitement, quite as 
marked as that occasioned by the firing on Sumter. On that evening dispatches 
were received by Major General Brooks, then commanding the department of the 
Monongahela, from Secretary Stanton and Major General Halleck, stating that 
the city was in imminent danger from the rebel forces, and advising him that no 
time was to be lost in putting the city in a state of defence. 

From the outbreak of the war uneasiness had existed at Washington City as to 
the possibility of an attempt on the part of the confederates to capture Pittsburgh.. 
This is set forth in a letter dated April 28th, 1861, to Governor William F. John- 
ston, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Committee of Public Safety, 
from Nicholas B. Wade, Esq., of the Fort Pitt Cannon Foundry, communicating 
some requests made in a letter from Charles Knapp, Esq., written from Washing- 
ton City, dated a day previous, in which Mr. Knapp writes: 

"At Washington Pittsburgh is considered a most important strategetical point 
commanding, as it does, the Ohio river, containing so many manufacturing estab- 
lishments, and especially an arsenal, powder magazines and a cannon foundry, it is 
a place the enemy would necessarily be very anxious to possess. * * * I do 
not represent my own views, but those of one iat headquarters and cognizant as 
far as any private individual can be, of the views of the government." 

This uneasiness as to a possible attack on Pittsburgh continued to exist, and in 
May and June, 1863, when the confederates were concentrating for an invasion of 
Pennsylvania, among loyal men in a position to know at Washington and in 
West Virginia and in Pittsburgh, there existed no doubt that the city of Pitts- 
burgh was in great peril. On the 10th of June, four days before the dispatches 
already mentioned as received by General Brooks, the following dispatch was- 
sent to Pittsburgh : 

War Department, 11:45 P. M., 

Washington, June 10, 1863. 
To Hon. Thos. M. Howe: 

Major General Brooks left here this morning for 
Pittsburgh to take command of the Department of the Monongahela. He is an 
able and resolute officer, but will need all the assistance you and your people can 
give. I wish you would go on his staff. The latest intelligence indicates that you 
have no time to lose in organizing and preparing for defense. All the field artil- 
lery on hand at Watertown has been sent by express to Pittsburgh. Whatever 
aid can be given here you shall have. Edvv^in M. Stanton. 

General Brooks arrived in Pittsburgh on June 11th, and on the evening of the 
14th a meeting of the more prominent manufacturers, and other citizens, was at 



78 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

once called by General Brooks for consultation. It being Sunday evening, many 
of those whose advice was desired were at church, and were called out by special 
messengers. The meeting continued in session until a late hour. At midnight it 
was determined that the work-shops should all be closed, and the men employed 
throwing up earthworks around the city, under charge of the government engi- 
neers, who had been sent from Washington to lay out the defences. This was 
done; and for two weeks' time Pittsburgh bore much the aspect of a beleagured 
■city. During that time thousands of men were busy constructing rifle-pits and 
earthworks for the mounting of cannon. From fifteen to sixteen thousand men 
were at times laboring in the entrenchments, which extended from Saw Mill run, 
now in the Thirty-sixth ward of Pittsburgh, along the range of hills running up 
the south side of the Monongahela, to about opposite the Four Mile run, in the 
Twenty-third ward of Pittsburgh ; across the city from the Monongahela to the 
Allegheny, and on the Allegheny side along the Ohio river. 

The extent and strength of those fortifications constructed in two weeks' time 
is best shown by the following extract from a report made by Captain Craighill, 
an United States engineer officer in charge of the work, to the Committee of 
Public Safety before mentioned. Says the report, " It is well known that when 
General Barnard arrived here, the city was not supposed to be threatened by any- 
thing more serious than a raid of a few thousands of cavalry or mounted infantry, 
accompanied by light artillery. The instructions from Washington under which 
we acted looked to securing the city against attack. This has been done. We 
are, moreover, in a condition to make a vigorous defence against an army," 

On the day succeeding the Sunday evening meeting, a dispatch was sent by 
Governor Curtin to Hon. Thomas M. Howe, then and for some time previous 
Assistant Adjutant General of the Western District of Pennsylvania, communi- 
cating the movements of the Confederates, and urging him to arouse the public ; 

HARRiSBURa, June 15, 1863. 
Hon. T. M. Howe: 

The following received from Chambersburg, eight P. M. ; make it public and 
arouse the people: "Lieutenant Palmer, of Purnell's Cavalry, has just came in; 
had to fight his way through two miles this side of Greencastle ; reports enemy 
advancing in three columns — one towards W^aynesboro and Gettysburg; one direct 
to Chambersburg, and one toward Mercerburg and Cove Mountain ; not known 
whether they will proceed in separate columns or concentrate here. Large fire 
«een in direction of Greencastle. Palmer reports column at Greencastle about 
five thousand strong, principally cavalry, supported by infantry and artillery." 

A. G. CURTIN, 

Governor of Pennsylvania. 

On the 17th the following spirited order was issued by General Howe: 

Headquarters Penn'a Militia, Western District, 

Pittsburgh, June 17, 1863. 

Eeliable advices having been received at these headquarters that a force of the 

enemy at eleven o'clock this morning had advanced twelve miles westward from 

Cumberland, giving unmistakable indications of their purpose to invade this 

neighborhood, I desire again to call upon all good citizens in Western Pennsylva- 



LATER HISTORY. 79 

nia capable of bearing arms to enroll themselves immediately into military organ- 
izations and to report to me for duty. 

If we would stay the march of the invader, we must be prepared to admonish 
him that we are fully organized and ready to receive him in a manner becoming 
freemen who cherish time-honored institutions, in defence of which so many of 
our sons and brothers have alreary offered their lives a willing sacrifice. Let us 
emulate their glorious example, and never let it be written of us that we proved 
recreant in the hour of danger. Whenever companies are duly enrolled and re- 
ported to these headquarters, whey will be called and assigned to duty by Major 
Oeneral Brooks, whenever and as the emergency may seem to demand, and who 
will be prepared to furnish arms and equipments. Thomas M. Howe, 

A. A. Adjutant General State of Penn'a 

In connection with this order it is proper to mention that the entire handling 
and movements of the volunteer and drafted troops in their preliminary organi- 
zation were through General Howe's orders and oversight. Enjoying throughout 
the war the fullest confidence of the general and State government, the labors of 
his office were performed by him without compensation or without recompense, 
satisfied with the consciousness of fully rendering that patriotic service prompted 
by his high sense of his personal duty to his country in its hour of peril. 

During the two weeks in which the city was being fortified business was 
to a great extent suspended, and for several days entirely so. The necessity of 
those expenditures of time and money has frequently been questioned by those 
not fully acquainted with all the circTimstances. There is little or no doubt that 
the capture of Pittsburgh was contemplated by the rebels. Its geographical 
position, its resources, and the vast arsenal that was, and could be made, all 
rendered it a strong strategetical point, whose possession or destruction was most 
important. At the time the city was fortified, General Lee was marching into 
Pennsylvania, while the rebel forces were being massed along the frontier line of 
West Virginia and Pennsylvania. An advance guard of rebel cavalry occupied 
Morgantown, and another body of horse were sweeping up the valley be- 
tween the ranges of the Allegheny mountains toward Bedford and Johnstown. A 
force of rebels occupied McConnellsburg, and held the telegraph office there. By 
these messages were exchanged with the operators of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company at Pittsburgh, in which the rebels stated their intention of 
reaching the city, and were in turn informed of the preparations making to receive 
them. A body of the cavalry advance, at Morgantown, had crossed the Cheat 
river to proceed to Pittsburgh, which, by cross country roads, was less than a sharp 
day's ride, when word was received by the leaders, through messengers sent by 
spies, that the city was being strongly fortified. Upon which information they 
retreated across the river, and finally fell back from Morgantown. 

Had the result at Gettysburg been different, there is no doubt that Pittsburgh 
would have been attacked. This is apparent from the forces which gathered at 
Morgantown and the vicinity, and were concentrating at McConnellsburg and 
that section. 



80 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Had the city been taken by the rebels, the result of the contest for the preserv- 
ation of the Union might have been different. The East and the West would have 
been severed. 

Pittsburgh's position is one that admitted of being strongly fortified, and an 
area enclosed tliat would amply support a large body of troops, while the Ohio 
river gave facilities for fitting out armed flotillas to command the western waters. 
Had it been captured, there is but little doubt the rebels would have endeavored 
to have held the city. Its admirable facilities for the manufacture of munitions of 
war; the opportunities of receiving supplies from Canada; its capability of being 
strongly fortified ; a capability so great, that a Commission of U. S. Engineers, 
who made an examination on this point in June, 1861, pronounced it the strongest 
position they knew in the country ; its strategetical power as severing the West 
and the East, and thus rendering diflScult the movement of troops between the two 
sections, would all have made it important for the Confederates to have held the 
city if possible ; and succeeding therein, caused, perhaps, a diflferent ending of the 
civil war. 

The fortifying of Pittsburgh was by many looked upon as a " Scare," and many 
of her own citizens have been accustomed to so pronounce it. If it was a scare, it 
was participated in by the government from a knowledge of the importance of the 
place as a military supply point, as well as the gate between the East and the 
West. It was a scare on the part of those Who knew the intentions of the rebels, 
and of a few who were aware that the fall preceding the outbreak of the war, a 
most thorough military and engineering reconnoisance was made, with ulterior ob- 
jects, by a person in the interests of the Confederates, and that at the time of the 
advance of Lee's army into Pennsylvania, this reconnoisance, with a map showing 
all the details of the topography of Pittsburgh, was in the hands of the Confeder- 
ate government. 

The many minor and personal incidents connected with the history of Alle- 
gheny county from 1861 to 1865, with the struggle for the preservation of the 
Union, are too numerous for the scope of this volume and must be left for some 
future biographical historian to collect. In these pages only the more important 
events can be touched upon, as has been the rule of the sketch of earlier years. 

On June first, 1864, was opened the great Sanitary Fair, which for weeks was 
crowded by thousands on thousands of young and old, eager to contribute to the 
fund to raise which the fair was projected. That effort was as glorious in its re- 
sults as it was in its conception, and the object to which its profits were to be de- 
voted. Like the story of " Pittsburgh soldier boys," the details of the Fair cannot 
be entered into in this volume. It is sufficient here to record, that the amount of 
money received from the Fair was $361,516.17. A portion of this patriotic fund 
unexpended during the war was devoted to the endowment of the Western Penn- 
sylvania Hospital, in the 12tli ward of the city. The sum of $203,119.57 was 
handed over to the Board of Managers of the Pittsburgh Sanitary Soldiers Home^ 
in cash and other articles ; it being a stipulation of the gift that Pennsylvania " 
soldiers sick or infirm should always be admitted for treatment free of charge. 



LATER HISTORY. 81 

There are many incidents connected with these outpourings of the patriotic 
feeling of Allegheny county that might be narrated, and of personal service, but 
it would be inviduous to mention any where so many gave time and money to 
accomplish the end that was attained. The whole population joined in the work 
of making the Fair a great pecuniary success. How much so is shown by the 
fact that the receipts were equal to |3.47 for each man, woman and child in the 
cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny. 

To narrate all of the many incidents of personal sacrifice and individual labors 
of men and women of Allegheny county during the war for the preservation of the 
Union, would in themselves fill a volume of many pages. Collectively, many are 
embraced more or less in the narrative of the leading events already given. To 
select instances of invidual services would be unjust to others where none 
whose sympathies were with the Union army did not in some way perform the 
duty they were asked to discharge, or volunteer their services. Whatever dif- 
ference of opinion on the conduct of the war might have existed, when the echoes 
of the guns of Sumter startled the Nation, long before the rebel troops had in- 
vaded the soil of Pennsylvania, the citizens of Allegheny county were a unit. 

The brief sketch that has been here given of the more important incidents in 
the county, connected with the war, during that period, are all that is required to 
present historically in this volume, its action, its sentiments, and its attitude 
through those years. 



CHAPTER YII. 
From 1865 to 1878. 



With the close of the war Allegheny County became to a greater degree than 
ever, active in the development of its resources. The call that had been made on 
her manufacturers from 1861 to 1865, for almost every description of munitions of 
war, had augmented greatly their capabilities, and brought thousands of skilled 
workmen into its boundaries, and thus largely increased its population. The decade 
from the close of the war, 1865 to 1875, while full of the personal and business 
incidents consequent upon the continuous growth in population and manufacturing 
development of the county, are chiefly interesting from a personal point of view. 
They would be but a pre-recital of what is necessarily included in the statistical 
matter of subsequent chapters. 

From 1860 to 1870 the population of Allegheny county increased from 178,831 
to 262,204. That of the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny from 76,765 to 
181,386. Among the more prominent minor occurrences of public interest, from 
1860 to 1875, are the following: 

The Allegheny county observatory which was founded in 1860, by the sub- 
scriptions of individuals, through the exertions of Mr. T. Bradley, a building 
6 



82 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

erected and a large equatorial telescope was, from pecuniary difficulties, retarded 
in its progress of usefulness until 1866, when a large sum was donated by William 
Thaw, which, with the aid of others, freed the institution from debt, and furnished 
the means of a partial endowment. In 1867, Prof. S. P. Langley, now of the 
Smithsonian Institute at Washington, was invited to assume the office of director. 
The equipment of this astronomical institution has been continually enlarged and 
perfected until it is second to none in the country. In this scientific incident of 
the history of Allegheny county, as in others, the pioneer spirit is again noticeable 
in the organization of a national benefit. Previous to 1869 astronomical time had 
been sent in occasional instances from American observatories. 

In that year was inaugurated the " Allegheny system," which is believed to be 
the first systematic and regular method of time distributed to railroads and cities. 
In 1870 some forty-two railroads adopted the time of the Allegheny observatory, 
and over the net work of railroads connecting the Atlantic and western States, all 
trains are moved and all business carried on by the time primarily derived from a 
single clock in the Allegheny Observatory. By the repeating instruments of the 
telegraph line its beats are virtually audible at least once a day over a considerable 
portion of the United States. In other words, throughout whatever section of the 
country those forty-two railroads and their ramifications run, the business of the 
nation is ordered by the beats of a clock in Allegheny county. 

On August 13th, 1861, the American flag was ordered placed on a spire of the 
Roman Catholic Cathedral by Bishop Domenic, of the diocese of Pittsburgh. In 
the same year the Pittsburgh and Birmingham bridge was built. 

On the 11th of February, 1863, the first twenty-inch gun ever made in the 
world was cast at the Fort Pitt Foundry. From this foundry were shipped from 
September 1st, 1862, to September, 1863, 7,173,534 pounds of cannon, and 2,972,916 
pounds of shot and shell. 

On January 1st, 1865, the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Soldiers' Orphans' Home 
was opened, and the Allegheny Home for the Friendless was started. On June 
25th, 1866, the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Orphan Asylum was opened. On June 
29th St. Peter's Episcopal Church was dedicated, and on September 25th the 
Episcopal Church Home was opened. On December 17th St. Patrick's Roman 
Catholic Church was dedicated. In this year the Pennsylvania Railroad opened 
the Union Depot ; the new Market-house in Allegheny City, and the Allegheny 
City Hall were completed, and steam, for the first time in the world, applied to 
the working of capstans, by Captain John McMillan, of Pittsburgh. In 1866 was 
abolished the old time-honored custom of calling the hour by the night police. 
This custom, originating in the "old countries," had been a custom of Pittsburgh 
decades after its abolishment in other American cities. 

On March 26th, 1867, the State Legislature passed an Act converting the com- 
mon grounds of Allegheny City, which the "in-lot holders" of the property had 
held as public pasturage ground, into that which is now the beautiful public 
parks of that city. 



LATER HISTORY. 8a 

On April 12th, 1867, was chartered the Monongahela Incline Plane, a railroad 
a-unning nearly perpendicularly up the face of Mt. Washington, on the south side 
■of the Monongahela, by which was inaugurated the movement that has made the 
-tops of all the high hills that surround the city of Pittsburgh as available for pri- 
vate residences as the more level portions of the city, and led to the building of 
five or six similar roads, thereby largely increasing the available building area 
without extension of territory. 

On November 30 of this year was constructed the first locomotive ever built 
in Allegheny City, and in this year the greatest plate of iron ever rolled in the 
world up to that date was made in Pittsburgh, being 12 inches thick, 4^ feet wide, 
and 12^ feet long. 

On the 8th of August, 1868, was laid the foundation stone of the new City 
Hall of Pittsburgh, which cost over $500,000 when completed in 1872. 

On November 13th, 1868, the corner stone of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church 
was laid; work on the Allegheny County Work-house begun, and Etna bor- 
ough incorporated. 

On November 12th, 1869, the Old and New School Assemblies of the Presby- 
terian Church convened at Pittsburgh, and were declared by their respective 
moderators dissolved, after which they met together, and, uniting, held services in 
commemoration of the reunion of the Presbyterians in the United States. 

On October 11th, 1870, the negroes of Allegheny cast their first vote at the 
polls. 

On July 26th, 1874, the county, and especially the city of Allegheny, was 
visited with a remarkable rain storm. The storm began about 8 p. m., accom- 
panied by great electrical disturbances. The storm extended over an area of 
sixteen miles from the north and south, and five miles from east to west. The 
center of the storm culminated over and around Allegheny City, and was there 
most destructive, the force of the water being more in the character of the bursting 
of a water spout than ordinary shower. Houses were swept from their foundations, 
iron bridges borne along on the torrents that filled the streets, sewers torn up, great 
destruction wrought in the space of one hour, and one hundred and twenty four 
persons were drowned. 

The brief mention thus made of the prominent locally public incidents in the 
county's history here grouped present, as do previous ones, the same character of 
local enterprise and local public spirit, while the subsequent narrative of its 
specific industries, to which the reader therein interested is referred, a period of 
great development in its resources and manufacturing powers. 

In 1877, the county suffered severe pecuniary loss, and detriment to its business 
interests, by what is known as the "Railroad Riot," which arose as have all riots, 
from the misguided actions of the working classes of the population, under the in- 
fluence of hot headed or demagogical leaders. Several of these later riots and 
their causes are noted in the chapters touching the industries among whose work- 
ingmen they originated, but the riot of 1877, being of a more serious character and 



84 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

really the culmination of threatening disturbances among the employees of rail- 
roads in various sections of the country, finds its most fitting consideration in the 
sketch of the county's general history. It was an occurrence that the pen hesitates 
to review historically, the whole aflfair being an exhibition of not only inefiicient 
management on the part of authorities, but also of mob violence being sympathis- 
ed with by some individuals of the respectable classes, until such time as the events 
showed that the public would be the suiFerer, not the corporation against whom 
the actions of the mob were directed. The education of the public mind in that 
direction had been going on in various sections of the country for quite a year^^ 
before the outbreak, and the riot at Pittsburgh was unfortunate for the city, being 
the culmination there of the storm that had been brewing along the line of all 
railroads fomented by the inconsiderate language of business men in commenting 
on alleged discrimination and favoritism by railroad oflScials. Railroad discrimin- 
ations being the theme dwelt upon to incite a feeling of hostility towards those 
corporations. As far back as July 23rd, 1876, a Pittsburgh paper in publishing 
an article headed, " Railroad Vultures " says, " Railroad officials are commencing^ 
to understand that the people of Pittsburgh will be patient no longer ; that this 
community is being roused into action and that presently the torrent of indigna- 
tion will give place to condign retribution;" and in another paragraph the same 
paper says it, " desires to impress upon the minds of the community that these 
vultures are constantly preying upon the wealth and resources of the country, they 
are a class, as it were, of money jugglers intent only on practicing their trickery 
for self aggrandizement and that, consequently, their greed leads them into all 
known ways and byways of fraud, scheming and speculating to accomplish the 
amassing of princely fortunes." 

The province of history is not only to record bald facts, but in connection 
therewith to give such collateral circumstances as lead up to the culmination of 
events and enable posterity not merely to judge results but the motives from which 
they arose. The foregoing extracts, as illustrative of the tone of some of the 
public press utterances, show the condition of the mental atmosphere for a period 
preceding the month of July, 1877, and, barometer-like, indicate a threatened 
storm. They indicated an under current of public feeling, which, if not entirely 
in sympathy with the incendiary utterances quoted, were at least tending in that 
direction or they would not have been tolerated, and a repetition of them ventured 
on from time to time, as they were. It must not be assumed, nor does it so appear,, 
that such was the spirit of the entire press, but it was a sufficient public expression 
to sow the seeds of vicious thoughts and for badly disposed demagogues to make 
use of. Nor is it assumed that any large j)art of the community sympathised with 
such a spirit, however much some individuals who may have felt aggrieved by 
actual or supposed discrimination were influenced by or approved such suggestions^ 
however some, in moments of unreflecting irritation at what they believed to be 
grievances, might for the time justify the publication of such paragraphs. 



LATER HISTORY. 85 

Be this as it may, they Avere the seeds from which Allegheny county reaped its 
whirlwind, and as such are mentioned necessarily, in treating historically the riots 
of 1877, that not only the effects of the storm be of record, but its inducing causes. 

For some months preceding the riots of Pittsburgh disturbances among the 
railroad employees, especially the engineers and brakemen of freight trains, had 
been frequent on railroads east and west of Allegheny. These disturbances arose 
mainly from resistance to reductions made or proposed by the executive officers of 
the various railroads in the rates of wages, and also from objections of the crews 
of trains to regulations governing their running. 

Strikes were in progress or threatened on the chief trunk lines of the country, 
and the disturbances had affected the men on the Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh, 
Fort Wayne and Chicago Kail roads. 

On Thursday, July 19th, 1877, the conductors and some of the brakemen of 
some of the freight trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad refused to take out their 
trains and would not allow other trains to move. There had been a reduction of 
ten per cent, on the wages of the men on the 1st of June, and an order had been 
issued that thirty-six freight cars, instead of eighteen as heretofore, were to be 
made up as a train without increase in the number of the crew, with a locomotive 
at the end to act as a pusher in assistance to the one drawing the burden, making 
■what is technically called " a double header." 

The train employees looked upon this as doubling their work under the de- 
creased pay of June 1st, and in its effects as virtually tending to the discharge of 
every other man then employed in the running of freight trains. The strike does 
not seem to have been a seriously organized affair, but rather a sudden conclusion 
arrived at under the impulse of the moment, strengthened, no doubt, by the dis- 
content that prevailed on the roads to the east and west, and the under current of 
hostility toward railroads evident by such publications as those previously quoted. 
There does not seem to have been at first any angry or mischievous feeling among 
the train hands, but simply an attempt by a "strike" to oblige the superintendent 
of the Western Division to secede from the order for the " double headers," or 
effect some compromise. The strikers did not seem to have been in a bad humor, 
but rather to the contrary, and were comparatively few in number. 

It was not until 8:30 A. m. on the 19th that trouble began. Two freight trains 
were to start at 8:40, but ten minutes before the crews sent word that they would 
not take the trains out. Two yard crews were then asked to do so, but they refus- 
ed. The trains were not taken out, and the crews of all the trains that came in, 
as they arrived, promptly joined the strikers. As the day wore on the men 
gradually congregated at the "round-house" of the road at Twenty-eighth street, 
but did not attempt or threaten any violence. The news of the strike had spread 
through the two cities, and large numbers of the more vicious class of the popula- 
tion, together with many workmen from the factories who sympathised with the 
strikers, hastened to Twenty-eighth street, and there was soon a formidable mob 
gathered, in which the few striking railroad employees were quite lost. The rail- 



86 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

road officials finding their tracks and round-house in the posession of a mob whicb 
defied them, called upon the Mayor of the city for assistance, from the police, ta 
which request the Mayor promptly responded going in person with the detail of 
officers sent. When the police arrived on the ground they found an excited as- 
semblage of people who defied the city authorities. There was no collision, how- 
ever, until a man who had refused to join the strikers attempted to couple some 
cars, when he was assulted. An officer of the road, who undertook to turn a switch,. 
was also assaulted by one of the mob, who was arrested by the police. HiS' 
comrades began throwing stones, but the police maintained their hold of their 
prisoner, and conveyed him to the station-house. An immense mob gathered in 
front of the police station with the intention and threats of rescuing their com- 
rade, but nothing was done. The mob which had, by this time, become greatly 
enraged, Avas really not one of the railroad employees, who had contemplated na 
such result of their strike, and generally deplored the turn affairs had taken. It 
was largely composed of the worst element of the population who, without any 
grievance, real or imagined, of their own, had gathered from the very force ot 
their vicious inclinations and hope of plunder. 

A meeting was held by the strikers that evening, at which they demanded 
that the ten per cent, be restored, and the running of " double headers " be abol- 
ished. It is quite probable that at this period in the course of the riot a few 
judicious persons might have changed the whole course of subsequent events, but 
the general public seemed to have been either unreflecting as to the possible dan- 
ger, or indifferent to results as long as it only threatened railroad interests. The 
strikers did not intend mob violence, and many of them were chagrined at the com- 
pany in which they found themselves. While they would, probably, not have ac- 
ceded then to a withdrawal of their demands, they would have sided with the- 
authorities to preserve order, and abate the mob by withdrawing themselves from, 
any public expression, and used their influence to quiet the excited gatherings 
The railroad authorities, however, alarmed at the still increasing mob, and its- 
utterances, invoked the aid of the sheriff of the county, and at midnight Sheriff 
Fife came to Twenty-eighth street, and ordered the rioters to disperse, which they,, 
with hoots and jeers, defiantly refused, many of his hastily summoned posse desert-, 
ing him even before he reached the scene of action. The sheriff then sought aid 
from the military, and General Pearson, being found about 3:00 A. m., issued an. 
order to the Nineteenth and Eighteenth regiments National Guards of Penn- 
sylvania, to march armed and equipped for duty at 6:30 A. m. This seemed to have- 
been a hasty and ill considered action. It is no where apparent that the civil au- 
thorities of either city or county had in any degree exhausted their powers. But 
two feeble efforts had been made in commanding the mob to disperse, but no de- 
termined effort had been made with a strong posse to disperse the crowd, or even 
force it back from off the railroad, nor had any such posse comatatus as the sheriff, 
was empowered to call to his aid been organized. 

Sheriff Fife also telegraphed to the State authorities that he was unable to- 
quell the riot, and asked that General Pearson be asked to do so with his forces, 



LATER HISTORY. 87 

whicli request Adjutant General Latta complied with. General Pearson marched 
his forces to the Union Depot and placed them in position in the yard and on the 
hillside above. The mob were not, however, deterred by this, as the file of the 
troops were more or less in sympathy with the strikers, and showed an evident 
disinclination to shoot down their fellow citizens if they should be ordered to do 
so. It was at this time that the great mistake was made in the management of 
the riot. 

The Governor had been telegraphed to, and had ordered General Brinton's 
division of troops to leave Philadelphia for Pittsburgh. This became known to 
the mob, which was still increasing in number and turbulence, and they became 
infuriated at troops being called in from the east, as they expressed it, " to shoot 
down Pittsburghers." Sheriff Fife had appealed to the State authorities, and 
they, not fully understanding the matter, acted as the public peace seemed to de- 
mand. In anticipation of the coming of these troops the mob became sullenly 
vicious. The feeling had spread to the workingmen in the factories on the South 
Side, where a public meeting was held, and some reputable citizens addressed the 
people. At this meeting demagogical speeches, upholding the action of the 
strikers were made, communistic arguments used, the Pennsylvania Railroad de- 
nounced for its oppression of their employes, and for bringing hireling soldiers 
from the east to slaughter them ; in consequence of which five hundred men in a 
body came from the South Side and joined the mob. Nor was the mob without 
continued encouragement from some citizens, who openly sympathized with the 
strikers, led thereto by personal feelings of dislike to the railroad company's busi- 
ness management, not reflecting that they were thus sustaining a mob whose 
depredations they would have to pay for. At this critical moment the mob re- 
ceived an endorsement that not only greatly encouraged it, but incited it to ex- 
treme deeds of violence. A leading paper, on Friday, the 20th, in the course of 
an editorial, headed, "The Talk of the Desperate," which formulated what is 
assumed as the expression of a workingman, in which this language was used : 
"This may be the great civil war in this country between labor and capital that is 
bound to come." And further, "The workingmen everywhere are in fullest sym- 
pathy with the strikers, and only waiting to see whether they are in earnest 
enough to fight for their rights. They would all join and help them the moment 
an actual conflict took place." And further, " The Governor, with his proclama- 
tion, may call and call, but the laboring people, who mostly constitute the militia, 
won't take up arms to put down their brethren. Will capital then rely on the 
United States army ? Pshaw ! It's ten to fifteen thousand available men would 
be swept from our path like leaves in a whirlwind. The workingmen of this 
country can capture and hold it, if they will only stick together, and it looks as 
though they were going to do so this time. Of course, you say that capital will 
have some supporters. Many of the unemployed will be glad to get work as 
soldiers, or extra policemen ; the farmers, too, might turn out to preserve your 
law and order ; but the working army would have the most men and the best 



88 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

men. The war might be bloody, but the right would prevail. Men like Tom 
Scott, Frank Thompson — jes, and Wm. Thaw — who have got rich swindling the 
stockholders of railroads, so that they cannot pay honest labor living rates, we 
would hang to the nearest tree." Is it to be wondered that with such suggestive 
language in a leading editorial in an influential paper that the mob were worked 
up to the pitch of violence that prevailed on Saturday and Sunday following ? 
Although the paper in a later edition suppressed that part of the editorial, and 
the other papers of the city refrained from any editorials that might increase the 
excitement, yet the mischief had been done, the unfortunate words had been said? 
and the more intelligently vicious of the rioters made the most of them. 

It is possible, as furious as the mob had become, that it would still have sub- 
sided under judicious treatment had the troops been ordered back to Philadelphia 
Those troops left Philadelphia on Friday night and arrived at the Union Depot 
on Saturday afternoon, tired and hungry and in an irritable mood. After a scant 
and hasty Innch they were pushed out along the tracks to the Pound House where 
the great bulk of the mob was assembled. In order to secure and cover the build- 
ing and tracks it was necessary that the mob should be forced back. This the 
troops, under orders, roughly and irritably proceeded to do, when some stones were 
thrown. 

Some one in command of the troops blundered and, it is said, gave an order to 
fire. Who gave the order has never been settled. Both General Pearson and 
General Brinton emphatically denied giving the order, and it is possible the firing 
resulted from some imperfectly heard order to do something else, or some exclama- 
tion of the angry mob, heard imperfectly amid the howls and jeers, was understood 
by the troops as an order to fire, or initiated in an angry moment by some soldier, 
who having been hit with a stone, fired from impulse, and his comrades sympath- 
etically followed in the volley. At all events the troops fired and about twenty 
persons were killed and thirty wounded, three of whom were children. It was a 
most wretched blunder from the fact that the Philadelphia troops not only fired at 
the mob in around the tracks, but poured several voUies in the direction of 
the hill above the yards, where the Nineteenth Regiment was on duty, and a large 
crowd of innocent spectators were gathered, killing and wounding a number. It is 
evident that the tiring was not through any deliberate orders of the commanders? 
but the result of an angry impulse or sudden irritation, and was but a further cul- 
mination of the mistake, whose ever it was, that brought troops from a distant 
part of the State to add fuel to the passions of the mob, by arousing sectional pre- 
judice. 

Had the troops refrained from firing it is altogether possible that the force of 
military on the ground would, if cooly handled, have gradually forced the rioters 
off the ground of the P. E. R. 

The ground once occupied and strongly guarded, as it could have been, the 
mob would ultimately have dispersed when the chance of plunder was shut ofi^, as 
llie most of the real strikers had virtually withdrawn from the active participation 
in the riot. 



LATER HISTORY. 89 

When, however, the mob saw their associates killed and wounded their rage 
burst all control, and the troops were closed in on and driven into the Eound 
House. Encouraged by this the mob took steps to burn them out. Cars loaded 
with whisky and petroleum were set on fire and sent down the track against the 
building, and fire opened on it with a piece of artillery which the mob had gotten 
possession of. General Brinton came personally to one of the windows of the 
house and appealed to the mob to desist, warning them if they did not he must and 
would fire. The rioters paying no attention to his appeal and warning, and pre- 
paring to continue their assaults, General Brinton gave orders to a detail of his 
men to fire at the men handling the cannon, by which several of them were killed 
and wounded. This checked the madness of the mob for the time, but they still 
continued to press around and threaten the soldiers. Incendiarism, having been 
inaugurated, went on through the night, trains were rifled and then burned. The 
troops held their position until Sunday morning, and then retreated out Penn 
avenue, as far as Sharpsburg, where they went into camp. 

During this retreat they were followed by a mob of two or three thousand 
persons, from which occasional shots were fired at the troops and some of them 
wounded. Some individual who, at the time and afterwards, rejoiced in the name 
of " Pat the Avenger," was in this conspicuous and persistent. Subsequent inves- 
tigations failed to show that it was any one person, but it seems, like " Tom the 
Tinker" during the Whisky Insurrection, to have been a mob designation. Gen- 
eral Brinton and his ofiicers are deserving of much credit for forbearance under 
these harrassing circumstances of their retreat. They had with them a Gatling 
gun which would, had an order been given to fire, have made great havoc in the 
dense crowd. Angered as the troops were at the lose of comrades slain, irritated 
by the pursuing mob, and exposed to the occasional shots fired at them, their for- 
bearance was wonderful. It would have been well had they exhibited that quality 
on the preceding Saturday afternoon, and their officers enforced the same dis- 
cipline. Had it been, there would have been no bloodshed nor the incendiarism 
that followed inaugurated. The troops coolly handled would have gradually evicted 
the rioters from the railroad property, and maintained possession by the mere 
force of their numbers and presence, which was, no doubt, the object of those who 
invoked their aid. The few railroad employees who were dissatisfied, but who, as 
before stated, had no vicious intentions, could have been treated with, and the 
vicious element of the mob finding no opportunity to plunder or other riotous pro- 
ceedings, would have gradually shrunk back from whence they came before the 
efforts of the police. Whoever gave the order to fire on Saturday afternoon is 
responsible for all that followed, or if no one gave such an order those of the 
Philadelphia troops who, wanting in soldierly coolness and discipline, fired from 
their own volition are. During Saturday night the Pittsburgh troops disbanded 
and left the grounds and General Pearson retired to a point down the river to 
escape the fury of the mob, who attributed to him the first order to fire. 

During Saturday night and Sunday morning the mob seemed to have posses- 
sion of the city. They broke open several armories and gun stores, and supplied 



90 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

themselves with arms and ammunition. The banks were threatened and the city 
seemed about to be pillaged, the lower part of the city being filled with bands of rioter^ 
uttering threats of incendiarism and murder. Several of the banks had armed 
bodies of men inside their doors, so eminent seemed the danger of their vaults 
being broken into and pillaged. On Sunday morning the round house and the 
locomotives therein were destroyed by fire. The Union depot, the grain elevator 
the Adams Express building, and the Pan Handle depot were also set on fire and 
consumed. The firemen who hastened to the scene and attempted to extinguish 
the flames were met by armed men and driven back. At 12:30 Sunday morning 
a committee appointed by a citizen's meeting tried to open a consultation with the 
mob but were promptly driven away. The committee saw that those they had to 
do with were not dissatisfied railroad employees, but not only a mob of the vilest 
of the city's population, at whose mercy the entire property of the city was, but a 
mass of men drunken with unrestrained passions and continuous indulgence in the 
whisky and wines obtained from the plundered cars. It was a mob in its most 
complete form, there being neither organization or leader, but each man or party 
of men doing what the frenzy or chance for plunder for the moment suggested. 
Some of the original strikers having been found, they promised to attend a meeting o^ 
the citizens at four o'clock and arrange to aid in suppressing the incendiarism, and 
they were as good as their word, showing, as before stated, that the railroad strikers 
were not of the mob and did not countenance the violence. 

At this meeting the Mayor was authorized to enroll five hundred police, but 
the accounts of the day say that the ranks filled up slowly. In the earlier hours 
of the mob when the Mayor was first appealed to, although prompt in his endeavor 
to check the turbulence than which it was nothing else at that period, his efibrts 
were retarded by the want of support he should have had from the police, which, 
not understanding the personal characteristics of the mob and permeated by a sym- 
pathy with the strikers, were backward in supporting the city authorities. The 
same sentiment among those from whom the extra police were expected made delay 
in their enrollment. The state of terror continued through all of Sunday night, 
and on Monday morning the mob still reigned supreme. 

Throughout the thirty-six hours, from Saturday night until Monday morning^ 
a most singular state of public mind developed here and there which seems like a 
moral epidemic. There was a most wholesale appropriation of goods from the 
burning cars by men and even women who would have at other times shuddered 
at so doing, and after the riot was suppressed goods were voluntarily, for some time 
returned by parties who had taken them unreflectingly, having recovered their 
moral perceptions, which had seemingly been clouded by the vicious atmosphere 
of the mob. This is mentioned because from first to last the whole aflPair seems to 
have been a carnival of mistakes and blunders, and there seemed to exist a sort of 
hallucination with certain classes of the population, that as long as it was only the 
railroad corporation that was being injured there was no great harm committed. 



LATER HISTORY. 91 

On Monday morning this, however, seemed to have been suddenly dissipated 
by posters, that had been, through the night, placed conspicuously throughout the- 
city, on which was printed the law by which the citizens of Allegheny county were- 
liable for all the damage done or arising from the mob. Although throughout 
this disgraceful occurrence the larger proportion of the citizens deplored its ex- 
istence, a semi-apathy seemed to prevail, and through all the working classes a sym- 
pathy under the mistaken idea that it was a labor strike, which sympathy quickly 
disappeared when the true element of the mob was understood, and changed to- 
hearty support of those engaged in suppressing it. On Monday morning, at eleveiT 
o'clock, a meeting of citizens was called to meet at the Chamber of Commerce, to- 
form a Committee of Public Safety to take charge of the situation, as the city au- 
thorities, the Sheriff and the military seemed powerless. At this meeting the fol- 
lowing Committee of Public Safety was appointed : William G. Johnston, chair- 
man ; John Moorhead, Paul Hacke, Kalph Bagaley, George Wilson, J. J. Gillespie^ 
G. Schleiter, J. G. Weldon, George H. Thurston, James J. Donnell, James B. 
Haines, George A. Kelly, F. H. Eaton, J. E. Schwartz, Joseph Home, William 
T. Dunn, E. G. Jones, Dr. Mcintosh, Frank Bissell, John K. McCune, John M. 
Davis, John B. Jackson, K. C. Grey, Alex. Bradley, Capt. Samuel Harper. 

On motion, Geo. H. Thurston, Geo. A. Kelly, John M. Davis, were appointed 
a committee to prepare an address to the public, and in a short time presented the- 
following, which was adopted and ordered to be at once published : 

"The Committee of Public Safety, appointed at the meeting of citizens, held* 
at the Chamber of Commerce, July 23d, deeming that the allaying of excitement 
is the first step towards restoring order, would urge upon all citizens disposed to> 
aid therein the necessity of pursuing their usual avocation, and keeping all their 
employees at work, and would, therefore, request that full compliance be accorded 
to this demand of the committee. The committee are impressed with the belief 
that the police force now being organized will be able to arrest and disperse alt 
riotous assemblages, and that much of the danger of destruction to property^ ha& 
passed, and that an entire restoration of order will be established. The committee- 
believe that the mass of industrious workmen of the city are on the side of law 
and order, and a number of the so-called strikers are already in the ranks of the- 
defenders of the city, and it is quite probable that any further demonstration wilt 
proceed from thieves and similar classes of population, with whom our working, 
classes have no affiliation and will not be found among them. 

" It is to this end that the committee request that all classes of business should 
be prosecuted as usual, and our citizens refrain from congregating in the streets in- 
crowds, so that the police of the city may not be confused in their efforts to arrest 
rioters, and the military be not restrained from prompt action, if necessary, from, 
fear of injuring the innocent." 

At this meeting Major T. Brent Swearingen was directed to take charge of or- 
ganizing the citizens who might desire to form organizations for the protection of 
the city. A Vigilance Committee was also authorized to be formed under charge- 
of General Negley and Major Swearingen, and establish headquarters at Lafayette- 
Hall. 

During the meeting much excitement was created by the announcement that 
650 miners from Elizabeth were coming down the Monongahela on a boat, to joira 



■92 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

the rioters and attempt the sack of the city. General Negley was dispatched with 
-a body of old soldiers to meet them at lock No. 1. They did so, but found the 
■miners were coming down to help suppress the mob instead of aiding the rioters. 
On being assured that their aid was not needed, and being tendered the thanks 
of the Committee'of Public Safety, they returned home. A committee, consisting 
of John Harper, President of the Bank of Pittsburgh ; John R. McCune, Presi- 
dent of the Union National Bank ; John D. Scully, Cashier of the First National 
JBank ; John A. Ricketson, and A. Groetzinger, President of the German National 
Bank, were appointed a Finance Committee to obtain funds for the payment of 
the expense that might be necessary in suppressing the riot and restoring order. 
The vigorous manner in which the committee took hold of their work caused, be- 
fore the day was over, a feeling of confidence and awed the mob, and the succeed- 
ing night witnessed no renewal of outrages. On the succeeding day the following 
persons were added to the committee: Joseph Dilworth, William Frew, J. K. 
Morehead, General Fitzhugh, Frank Sellers, John McD. Crossan, A. E W. Pain- 
ter, Harry Oliver, John H. Shoenberger, General J. B. Sweitzer, J. G. Siebeneck, 
Richard Smythe, Charles E. Speer, B. F. Jones, Simon Beymer, Mark W. Watson, 
Joseph S. Morrison, Samuel S. Brown, Thos. Fawcett, Hill Burgwin, James Little, 
James B. Reed, M. Swartz welder, Henry Floyd, William Rea, Reuben Miller, Jr., 
T. B. Atterbury, A. F. Dalzell, S. S. Marvin. 

While the mob had been so far restrained by the action of the committee, yet 
they were, although dispersed as a body, holding meetings, and sullen in their 
■demeanor. The strike had spread to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago 
Railroad, and its trains were for two or three days virtually stopped. In other 
sections of the country the railroad troubles were increasing and the committee 
thought best to call Major General Joe Brown and Colonel Guthrie, of the Eigh- 
teenth National Guards, into consultation. Under their advice a camp was formed 
of the military at East Liberty, to be held in readiness for any further outbreak. 
Mayor McCarthy enrolled five hundred extra police, and issued a proclamation in 
which he said, "I have determined that peace, order and quiet shall be restored to 
the community, and to this end call upon all good citizens to come forward at 
-once to the old City Hall and unite with the police and military now organizing. 
I call upon all to continue quietly at their several places of business and refrain 
from participating in excited assemblages." 

A proclamation had also been previously issued by Governor Hartranft, and he 
had come to Pittsburgh to address the rioters, and subsequently some two or three 
thousand troops were ordered by him to Pittsburgh, and were encamped near East 
Liberty for several days. Under these vigorous measures quiet was in a few days 
restored, and the railroad riots of Pittsburgh were a thing of the past, although 
the Committee of Public Safety continued to hold sessions and to take steps not 
only to prevent any further demonstrations, but to arrest and bring to punishment 
a number of the prominent rioters. The mistake of allowing a collection of 
thieves and similar vagabonds to assimilate themselves with a mere handful of 



LATER HISTORY. 9^ 

strikers and thus become the mob it did was the first error in the eflTorts to control 
the mob. The next was calling out the military before the civil authorities had 
exhausted their power, and the greatest of all was the bringing of the troops from 
the east. 

Every step taken until the Committee of Public Safety took charge of affairs 
only tended to enrage the working classes, instead of quieting them to a point of 
reason. It gave demagogues and bad men the opportunity to play upon the 
passions of the masses, and what was a mere, in one sense, harmless strike of a 
few dissatisfied railroad employes, who intended no violence, became the terrible 
riot for which claims were made on Allegheny county for damages to the amount 
of $4,100,000, which the Commissioners settled for |2,772,349.53. Of this sum 
$1,600,000 went to the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose claim for $2,312,000 was- 
setfled for that sum. The public learned the danger of sympathizing with mobs 
to gratify 'feelings of private hostility ; the county and city a lesson it will not 
care to have repeated. 

In addition to the buildings already specified as burned, there were 1,383 
freight cars, 104 locomotives and 66 passenger coaches destroyed. Twenty-five 
persons in all were killed. 



CHAPTER YIII. 
From 1878 to 1888. 

From 1878 to 1888 the year that completes the hundred years of Allegheny 
county's organization a remarkable era of growth and prosperity has year with 
year accompanied the county's progress. Although labor strikes from time to 
time in that decade disturbed the smooth running of the manufactories, there was,. 
in Allegheny county, no repetition of the notorious element of 1877. The disagree- 
ments between employee and employer being settled quietly a»d peacefully^ 
by concessions and arbitration. The great riot of the employees at the coke man- 
ufactories occurring in another county is not part of the history of Allegheny county 
only so far as it relates to that portion of her business interests known as the coke 
trade, and as such finds its proper mention in the chapter illustrative of the growth 
of that business interest. The decade is one too close to the present day to be his- 
torically reviewed, and there are are in it few occurrences of great public import- 
ance beyond those that belong to the growth of the industries of the county, and 
those are embraced in the chapters devoted thereto. From a commercial point of 
view the most important event of the decade was the introduction and general use 
of "Natural Gas" in the factories and households of the city and county. Of 
this and tlie entire enterprise in that direction the narrative is made in a subse- 
quent chapter. In each decade of the county's history there is some one event^ 



S4 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

'which, while prominent over all others, seems to have had a permanent influence 
on its growth and business developments. 

There is none, however, that has wrought such a complete transformation in 
the county's business characteristics nor one whose effect will probably be so national 
as the utilizing of natural gas by the people of Allegheny county. It has been point- 
ed out in several instances in these pages how strikingly Allegheny county has been 
a pioneer in business enterprises, manufacturing advances and political movements, 
which have been national in their benefits or their effects, but there seems to be 
none which in its results will possibly create such national manufacturing changes 
-and results as the adoption, as a fuel, of natural gas by the people of Allegheny 
county. Its adoption to all uses whether of the factory or the dwelling is too close 
jto to-day to have yet risen to the attitude of history in its strictest sense, but in 
-after years all that pertains to Allegheny county's pioneer enterprise therein will 
become a most interesting historical record. 

Among the purely local public enterprises of the decade is the building of the 
magnificent Court House of which a fine engraving is one of the illustrations of 
this volume. 

On Sunday morning, May 7th, 1882, the Court House, which had been con- 
structed in 1838-40, by Coltart & Dilworth, was discovered to be on fire. As the 
records of the county were there and the building was not fire-proof in any of its 
departments, great excitement ensued. Fortunately, although the building was 
<destroyed, the records were all saved. The building, of which an illustration 
accompanies this volume, while at the time of its erection considered, as it was, a 
handsome edifice, had, under the rapid growth of the county and its consequent, 
enormous increase of its dof^umentary and other legal business, became so overcrowded 
in its departments, that it was insufficient for the accommodation of the various courts 
and the county officials. The question of a new Court House had already been dis- 
cussed. Its burning, while a monetary loss, was therefore only hastening its 
replacement^by a new building and resulted in the county of Allegheny possessing 
to day, what is claimed to be not only the best arranged Court House interiorly 
but externally, and architecturally the most beautiful edifice of its kind in the 
United States, and some claim in the world. 

The sudden destruction of the building thus leaving the immense legal business 
of the county without shelter, threw an immediate and unforeseen duty and re- 
sponsibility upon the County Commissioners then in ofl&ce, R. E. Mercer, Geo. Y. 
McKee and Daniel McWilliams. The energy, business ability and official integ- 
rity with which they at once proceeded to rehabilitate the courts of law and the 
county authorities, deserves more than a passing record. For while the edifice will 
long remain a monument to the genius of the architect, the facts of its construc- 
tion should, in this age of so much bargain and sale and official corruption true or 
charged, be a monument to the Commissioners under whom it was planned and 
built, without the taxpayers having been burdened with a heavy debt or a whisper 
of corruption in its contracts, although the sum expended has been so great and 



LATER HISTORY. 95 

the opportunities for what, in the political slang of the day is called "jobs," many. 
On the Monday morning after the fire the Commissioners at once began negotia- 
tions with the trustees for the purchase of the Western University building, and 

completed the purchase in June , at a cost of $80,000. Some of the courts 

immediately occupied it. The Commissioners proceeded without loss of time to 
improve it for the other courts and several of the county offices, and it was soon 
fully ready, including a complete system of heating at an expense of |22,000. The 
building not being large enough for all the county business, they purchased the 
lot on George's alley and Old avenue, 75x115 for |16,000, and erected a two story 
brick building at a cost of $27,000, with fire-proof apartments for the prothonotary. 
The Commissioners having thus, in two months time, at a cost of $123,000, pro- 
vided substantially and comfortably for the entire legal business of tlie county, were 
ready to consider the question of erecting a new Court House. 

During this time public opinion was active in discussing the question of the 
character and cost of the new edifice that must be ultimately erected. Some were 
for a magnificent and costly structure to cost $5,000,000 ; others advocating one for 
less than half a million. Kich and poor, high an(f low, interviewed the Commis- 
sioners upon the subject and preferred their advice. The opportunity there was 
in the construction of the new Court House and Jail for corrupt contracts, or at 
least extortionate cost, brought the schemers, who live by much political plunder 
thickly around. It was well for the county that its business was in the hands of a 
body of Commissioners whose high personal character, integrity and business 
ability were all their subsequent actions proved them to be. Forecasting from the 
immense increase in the business of the county for the last two or three decades 
what it would in all probability become, they saw that it would be but wasted 
money, by the time another decade or two had rolled by, to put up an ordinary 
building. To erect the edifice their judgment told them should be built was likely 
to cost a large sum of money, perhaps exceeding $3,000,000, thus burdening the 
taxpayers witL a heavy debt. These were serious questions to be debated and 
solved to the satisfaction of that severe task-master, the taxpayer, out of whose 
pockets the money must come, and likewise to their own conscientious conceptions 
of their official duty to the public. The wealth of Allegheny county demanded 
such an architectural edifice as should do honor to its prominence politically and 
commercially in the Nation, while duty to the taxpayers called for such expend- 
itures as would avoid any increase of the tax millage or heavy bonded indebt- 
edness. 

That they might have formulated in their own minds the building they might 
or should erect, the Commissioners undertook to visit the principal cities east and 
west to make a study of the best modern public buildings, and thus thoroughly 
inform themselves of all their advantages or defects, and avoid, if possible, mis- 
takes in construction. This they did, and were then prepared to consult the 
architects and receive plans and proposals for building. Before doing this the 



96 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Commissioners consulted all the county officials as to what each would need or 
desire as to room or wall space in their respective offices. A pamphlet was then 
prepared and mailed, with a circular letter, to a number of the principal home 
architects and those of other cities, asking them to furnish plans and estimates a& 
to cost, also their own charges. To this circular many replies were received, and 
charges of architects varied from |500 to $30,000. It was then decided to select, 
five of the architects replying to the circular, one of whom should be a resident 
of Allegheny county, two residents in the Eastern States and two in the Western.. 
Mr. Post, of New York; Mr. Ord, of Philadelphia; Mr. Boynton, of Chicago; 
Mr. Meyer, of Detroit, and Mr. Peebles, of Pittsburgh, were selected. About this 
time an active interest sprung up among a number of the best citizens in favor of 
Mr. Richardson, of Boston, from whom no reply had been received to the circular 
sent him. Mr. Post, of New York, having declined the condition of the Com- 
missioners that but |2,500 would be paid to each architect for his plan, and that 
the plan should be the property of the Commissioners, and to be furnished by 
January 1st, 1884, Mr. Kichardson was substituted in his place. The plans were 
submitted at the time specified, but only four were presented, Mr. Peebles having 
been prevented by circumstances from completing his. 

The plans were placed on exhibition in the Welsh church on Boss street on 
January 1st, 1884, and the makers were present to explain them. Great interest 
was taken in the exhibition by all classes of citizens, many of whom, after several 
examinations of the drawings, visited the Commissioners and spoke in favor of the 
plans they preferred. The best civil and mechanical engineers, and most promi- 
nent manufacturers criticised the plans and gave their opinion as to the strength 
of the walls and other matters pertaining to the solidity, durability, architectural 
beauty, and adaptibility of the edifice for the purposes for which it was intended. 

Fully four fifths gave a preference to the plan of Mr. Richardson, the Com. 
missioners being themselves unanimous in the same opinion. Tljeir own judg- 
ment being thus indorsed by the decision of the most competent judges in Alle- 
gheny county, the Commissioners decided to accept Mr. Richardson's plans. On 
the 31st of January, 1884, after consultation with Charles Davis, the county en- 
gineer, as required by law, they employed Mr. Richardson, instructing him that 
the building when fully equipped, completed and furnished must not cost more 
than 12,500,000, and the cost of tie building itself must not exceed $2,250,000. 
Previous to this, by which delay was caused in the commencement of the building, 
the Board of Prison Inspectors of Allegheny County deciding that the old Court 
House lot was not large enough for both Court House and a Jail such as the 
health as well as safety of criminals required, parsed a resolution requesting the 
Commissioners to pvirchase the property on the east side of Ross street as a Jail 
lot. As it was possible under the circumstances that the price of the property 
might be extortionately raised on the Commisioners, they had, therefore, as a pre- 
caution, an Act of the legislature passed in 1883, that in its operation would pre- 



LATER HISTORY. 97 

vent extortion by the sellers of the property in question. After which the Com- 
missioners proceeded to purchase from some 15 or 16 owners after much negoti- 
ation, at a cost of $170,000, the ground on which the jail was built. Mr. Richard- 
son furnished his working plans about July 1st, 1884. These plans were put in 
one of the Court rooms of the county building, and bids for construction to be sub- 
mitted August 16th, 1884, were advertised for, for three weeks in the papers of 
New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, and for two weeks in the official 
papers of Allegheny county. On August 18th the bids were opened, and referred 
to the County Controller and the County Engineer for examination, being as fol- 
lows : Booth & Flinn, Worster granite, |2,475,000, sand stone, $2,220,724 ; Fred- 
erick Gwinner, Mt. Desert granite, $2,572,000 ; Butts & Schriner, Red Westerly 
granite, $2,695,556 ; New England Granite Company, Fox Island granite, $2,260,- 
000, Red Westerly, $2,350,000 ; Norcross Bros., Worster granite, $2,198,000, Red 
Westerly, $2,207,000 ; Red Mlssan, $2,248,000, Red Beech, $2,233,000, Golds- 
borough, $2,234,000. 

The Commissioners, as by their specifications were allowed to make certain 
addenda, which were named. When the bids were examined they concluded to 
adopt them. These additions increased the bid of Norcross Bros. $45,000, making 
their bid, of $2,198,000 for Worster granite, amount to $2,243,000. The same items 
or addenda in the bids of the other competing parties increased the cost from 
$50,000 to $100,000 respectively. 

On the first day of September the Commissioners called in the County Conp- 
troller to consider in consultation with them the bids opened on August 18th. 
The bid of Norcross Bros, for $2,243,024 was accepted, and on September 10th, 
1884, the contract was signed. 

The Norcross Bros, began their work almost immediately and the completed 
Court House and Jail was turned over to the Commissioners in April, 1888. The 
contractors would have completed their contract before the day required, which 
was in three years and six months from the date of its signing, but the Commis- 
sioners delayed the finishing of the tower from October to April by the advice of 
the architect, to allow the masonry to set. 

The jail was ready for occupation in May of 1886, but the Commissioners in 
the interest of the health of the prisoners did not allow it to be occupied until 
September 1st, of 1886, so that it, being of stone, might be thoroughly dried. 
While the plans were being prepared the taxpayers were apprehensive that the 
building would be extravagantly constructed, and fearful of a large increase of tax 
rate, steps were taken by some of the heavy taxpayers to enjoin the Commissioners 
from proceeding with the plans decided on. 

The Commissioners semi-officially assured the public that the increase of the 
bonded indebtedness of the county would not exceed $1,200,000. On the 8th day 
of February, 1884, the Commissioners made a levy for all purposes of four mills 
on the county valuation of $226,000,000, and one mill for a poor tax, which is 
only collected in the boroughs and townships. That levy was continued in 1885- 

7 



98 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

86 87-88, but only three-fourths of a mill was levied for poor tax in 1887, and 
none in 1888, as a surplus had accumulated, so that none was needed for poor 
purposes that year. 

On September 7th, 1886, they made provision, in accordance with Act of As- 
sembly, to issue 11,500,000 of Sh per cent, twenty-year bonds, if necessary, and 
authorized the sale of $500,000 of those bonds. They were sold, $387,500 to the 
Dollar Savings Bank at par; $100,000 at 2 per cent, premium, and the balance in 
small lots at from f to 1 per cent, premium. On the 4th day of June the Com- 
missioners agreed to issue $300,000 twenty-year bonds bearing 4 per cent, interest. 
These were sold at a premium of 2 per cent. Thus the Commissioners had only 
increased the bonded indebtedness $800,000, as against the $1,200,000 they had 
semi-officially promised the taxpayers would be the limit to which the building 
©f the magnificent Court House would increase the county's bonded indebtedness. 

During the course of the construction of the Court House and Jail the Com- 
missioners found the necessity of making twenty-six alterations. While some of 
them increased the original contract others decreased it, but the aggregate increase 
was but $14,000. The plans for the furnishing and equipping of the Court House 
were conducted on a similar system and with the same conservative care as the 
building itself. There were a number of bids from eastern and western cities and 
home contractors. The contract was awarded to the Norcross Bros, for $103,760. 

The engraving accompanying this volume gives a pictorial idea of the exterior 
proportions of this building, but a personal inspection is required to obtain a full 
conception of its massive grandeur, architectural beauty, and its admirable in- 
terior arrangements and finish. It will come to be considered one of the famous 
buildings. The history of its building is thus given so fully that it shows a busi- 
ness ability not usually displayed by public officers, and an eflbrt not only to guard 
the public money from the inroad of corrupt schemers, but at the same time in a 
broad, generous expenditure, give the county of Allegheny a public building 
commensurate with its wealth commercially, its manufacturing fame, its historical 
dignity and political importance. This the Commissioners have done, and accom- 
plished in their difficult task the expenditure of a large sum of public money to 
the satisfaction of the entire public, without the tongue of political scandal having 
once dared to attribute "jobbery" or corruption in any form. 

There is in the building 157,222 feet of foundation stone, 96,774 feet of iron 
pipe, 11,680 feet of brass pipe, 14,322,140 brick, 1,187,136 pounds of rolled iron 
beams, 87,346 feet of granite ashlar, 81,299 hollow brick, 260,651 feet of granite, 
1,308,817 pounds of cast iron, 2,580,909 pounds of wrought iron, 617,198 tile in 
roof, 1,145,120 brick in floors, arched, 3,008 square feet copper gutters, 24,500 
enameled brick, 16,500 squares of terre cotta partitions, 56,861 yards of plaster- 
ing, 28,197 feet of plate glass, 8,795 feet of marble wainscoating, 38,464 feet of 
tile floor. These are some of the principal bulks comprising the building, and 
give some idea of its bulk. 



BOAT BUILDING. m 

The narrative tells of a community which has risen from a cluster of squalid 
bark cabins around a frontier garrison, and a few Indian traders, to the dignity, 
architectural and social elegance of one of the most important cities in the nation, 
with a population closely approaching half a million, having taxable property to 
the value of over $300,000,000. It tells of a people founding on the frontier edge, 
€re the war whoop of the savage had ceased to echo amid its forests, the germs of 
manufacturing industries that have grown to be the dominant force in the manu- 
facturing interests of the country, and held as a successful rival in respectful con- 
sideration by the oldest manufacturing nations of the earth. It tells of a com- 
munity growing solidly, but slowly, adding year after year to its industries, in- 
creasing from decade to decade, in the magnitude of its immense business, un- 
til it ranks the eighth in the Union in its daily monetary transactions. It tells of 
a people rich in their educational facilities, their business enterprise, and mechan- 
ical skill. Wealthy in furnace, forge and mill, and a thousand factories, yet 
retaining the industrial habits of the forefathers of the country. It tells of a people 
loyal under all circumstances to the precepts of the constitution of the nation. 
Of a people who have through years of persistent toil demonstrated, by practical 
results, the necessity of protection to American labor, and thereby the enrichment 
of the country and the elevation of its workman, and a similar outgrowth from 
its Scotch-Irish settlers that New England has enjoyed from its Puritan pilgrims. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Boat Building in Allegheny County. 

Allegheny county is more than historically connected in a general way with 
the history of steamboat building. Elizabeth is the point wheie was built, at the 
close of the eighteenth century, the first sea going vessel to navigate the western 
waters, and Pittsburgh as the place where the first practical steamboat was con- 
structed. Where the first iron steamboat was built in the United States, and as 
building iron and steel ships and steamboats for the United States government and 
for navigating the rivers of some foreign countries, beside originating the form of 
steamboats that it was found advisable to adopt for the navigation of others. 

To day there is no point that can rival Allegheny county in boat building, 
although from the increase of railway transportation and the neglect of the gov- 
ernment to improve the navigation of the Ohio, its boat and ship building business 
has fallen off". Water highways are of all burden carriers the cheapest, and the 
increasing bulks of transportation will necessitate a return to them. 

While Allegheny county claims the honor of being the place of construction 
and successful building of the first steamboat, it would seem from the following 
extract from a diary kept by one James Kenny, a Quaker trader at Fort Pitt in 



100 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

1761, that Pittsburgh has some claims to being the place where the first germs of 
the idea of a steamboat originated, says the diary : 

"1761, 4th mo: 4th. — A young man called Wm. Ramsey has made two little 
boats, being squair at ye sterns, and joined together at ye sterns by a swivel, make 
ye two in form of one boate, but will turn round shorter than a boat of ye same 
length or raise with more safety in falls and in case of striking rocks; he has alsa 
made an engine that goes with wheels enclosed in a box, to be worked by one man^ 
by sitting on ye end of ye box, and tredding on treddlers at bottom with his feet, 
set ye wheels agoing, which work scullers or short paddles fixed over ye gunnels- 
turning them round ; ye under ones always laying hold in ye water, will make ye 
boate goe as if two men rowed ; and he can steer at ye same time by lines like 
plow lines." 

This statement as to Ramsey obtaining his idea from Fitch, is on authority of 
Hon. Robert Wicklifie, vol. 1, page 36, American Pioneer. 

This was twenty -five years before either James Ramsey, of Berkley county^ 
Virginia, succeeded in propelling his ^^ flying boat," as it was called by the people, 
against the current of the Potomac at Shepherdstown, by steam alone, at the rate 
of four or five miles an hour ; and also twenty years before Fitch, in 1780, acci- 
dently meeting Ramsey in Winchester, imparted to him his idea of propelling 
boats by steam. 

There is nothing more on record of the " young man called Wm'. Ramsey,'^ 
but the thought naturally occurs that if he had persevered with his idea, that 
Pittsburgh was very near to being the scene of the first attempts to construct a 
boat to be driven with machine power. 

Where or when, however, the idea of a boat propelled by machine power or 
by steam originated, is quite uncertain. 

From a work published about forty years since in Spain, of original papers 
relating to the voyage of Columbus, preserved in the royal archives at Samancas,. 
and those of the Secretary of War of Spain, in 1543, it is stated, " that Blasco de 
Garay, a sea captain, exhibited to Charles V., in the year 1543, an engine by which 
vessels of the largest size could be propelled, even in a calm, without oars or sails. 
The Emperor decided that an experiment should be made, which was successfully 
attempted on June 17, 1543, in the harbor of Barcelona. The experiment was on 
a ship of 209 tons, called the ' Trinity.' Garay never publicly exposed the con- 
struction of his engine, but it was observed at the time of the experiment, that it 
consisted of a large cauldron of boiling water, and a movable wheel attached ta 
each side of the ship." 

From this statement it would appear that DeGaray not only orignated the 
steam engine, but made at the same time its application in one of its most practi- 
cal and beneficial forms, and at a single efibrt accomplished what took the light 
and talent of several generations to invent and bring to practical shape. 

This statement, although based on the archives of Spain, and those of the Sec- 
retary of War of that Kingdom, are by some discredited, as the date is fifty -four 
years before the birth of the Marquis of Worcester who is given, by history, the 
credit of being the inventor of the steam engine. It might be said in rebuttal that 



BOAT BUILDING. 101 

the incident just quoted of "de Garays" experiment possibly came in some way, 
to the Marquis' notice, and that he proceeded, after the manner of all inventors, to 
improve upon it. There is, also, a fact in history as to an early steamboat that 
might justify the idea that both Fitch and Fulton were not entirely original in 
their idea of a boat propelled by machinery moved by steam, presuming even that 
" de Garay's " exhibition in 1543 had not accidentally came to their knowledge. 

A treatise was printed in London in 1737, describing a machine invented by 
Jonathan Hulls, for carrying vessels against wind and tide, for which George II. 
granted a patent for fourteen years. A drawing is prefixed to the treatise show- 
ing a boat with chimney smoking, a pair of wheels rigged over each side of the 
stern. From the stern of the boat a tow line passes to the foremast of a two 
<3ecker, which the boat thus tows. This is evidently the first idea of a steam 
tow boat. As this was a published treatise, and there was a patent on record, pub- 
lic information must have circulated of a steamboat before the experiments of 
Fitch or Fulton or Stevens or Livingston, and while similarity of ideas in inven- 
tions, are not infrequent, absolute originality is difficult to establish. 

James Eamsey, before mentioned, October, 1774, obtained from the legislature 
of Virginia an Act guaranteeing him the exclusive use of his invention in navi- 
gating the waters of that State for ten years. Ramsey went to England, and 
through many discouragements struggled on until he had constructed a boat of 
one hundred tons and so far completed his machinery as to indicate a day for pub- 
lic exhibition. He died suddenly before the day, while beginning the delivery of 
a lecture at Liverpool, England. The boat was set in motion on the Thames in 
1793 and a fitting tribute paid to his memory by the Congress of the United States 
on February 9, 1839, when it unanimously voted his son a gold medal commemor- 
ative of his father's agency in giving the world the benefit of the steamboat. 

In 1780 the Marquis de Jouffrey worked a steamboat 140 feet long on the 
,Seine. 

In 1785 both Ramsey and Fitch had exhibited models to Gen'l Washington, 
«,nd on March 15, 1785, Washington, in a letter to Hugh Williamson, certifies 
that his doubts are satisfied, after witnessing Ramsey's experiment. Fitch made 
many efforts to have his invention tried. He applied to Congress and was refused, 
just as was nearly the fate of Morse with his telegraph. He offered his invention 
to the Spanish government, for the purpose of navigating the Mississippi, without 
abetter success ; but at length obtained the funds for the building of a boat, and in 
1788 his vessel was launched on the Delaware. Fitch used oars worked in frames. 
After many experiments, Fitch abandoned his invention, having satisfied himself 
.of its practicability, being embarrassed with debt. 

He died in 1799, at Bardstown, Kentucky, and was buried near the Ohio. 

In 1787, after Fitch's experiment, a Mr. Symington succeeded in propelling a 
steamboat on the Clyde in Scotland. In 1797 John Stevens, of Hoboken, began his 
•experiments, and succeeded in propelling boats at the rate of five or six miles an 
iiour. In 1797 Chancellor Livingston built a boat on the Hudson, and applied to 



102 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

the Legislature for the exclusive privilege. This was granted on condition thai 
he should propel a vessel by steam, within a year, three miles an hour; but 
Livingston, unable to comply with this condition, dropped his project for a time. 
He afterwards associated himself with Stevens, and aided by Nicholas Koosevelt^ 
carried on the experiments until he (Livingston) was sent to France as minister. 
Mr. Stevens continued his experiments for several years, when Mr. Livingston 
having attained a renewal of the exclusive grant from the State of New York, he^ 
with the assistance of his son, applied himself with greater attention to the pro- 
ject, and in 1807, only a few days after Fulton's convincing experiment, succeeded 
in propelling a steamboat at the required velocity of three miles an hour. Ful- 
ton, it is said, had in 1803 made a successful trial on the Seine with a boat that 
moved at the rate of four miles an hour. 

About 1802-3, Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, built on the Mississippi a boat 
to ply between New Orleans and Natchez. When the boat was ready it was left 
high and dry by the falling water, and the engine was placed temporarily in a saw 
mill. The mill was burned by some incendiaries, whom it was likely to deprive 
of a profitable job of sawing lumber, and thus an attempt to establish steamboats- 
on the Mississippi was defeated some four years before Fulton's experiment. 

All these efforts seem to have been preliminary experiments ; to Fulton and 
Roosevelt really belongs the credit of bringing to practical results the steamboat^ 
in the construction in 1810-11, by himself, Livingston and Roosevelt, of the 
"New Orleans" at Pittsburgh. 

This sketch of the gradual growth of the idea of a boat to be propelled by 
machinery worked by steam, while not of the actual history of Allegheny County^ 
is so intimate in its connection with the history of boat building therein that it i& 
interestingly preliminary thereto. The position that Pittsburgh occupies as the 
point where was constructed, and whence departed the first steamboat that navi- 
gated the western waters, giving her an historical prominence in connection with 
the invention of steamboats. 

The 23d of February, 1777, is the date at which, it may fairly be said, com- 
menced that important branch of the business of Pittsburgh — ^boat building. On 
that day " fourteen carpenters and sawyers arrived at Fort Pitt from Philadelphia^ 
and were set at work on the Monongahela, fourteen miles above the fort, near a 
saw mill. They built thirty large batteaux, forty feet long, nine feet wide and 
thirty-two inches deep, which were intended to transport troops." 

For a quarter of a century from this time the navigation of the western rivers 
was by the use of flat boats, keel boats and "broad horns," as they were called^ 
These boats were all propelled by pole?, or by sweeps, and the labor of the crews 
on the upward pa.«sage, somewhat relieved by aid of ropes, carried out the head^ 
and attached to trees, by which the boats were " cordelled," or warped up stream 
where the current was very swift. The trips were long and tedious, and, for years, 
dangerous from the Indians, even as late as 1794, as the following extract from an 
advertisement of that date shows, which gives as well a glimpse of the method ofT 
travelling at that date : 



BOAT BUILDING. 103 

The advertisement states : " Two boats for the present will start from Cincin- 
nati for Pittsburgh, and return to Cincinnati in the following manner, viz: First 
boat will leave Cincinnati this morning at eight o'clock; and return to Cincinnati, 
so as to be ready to sail again in four weeks. The second boat will leave Cincin- 
nati on Saturday, the 80th inst., and return to Cincinnati in four weeks as above. 
And so regularly, each boat performing the voyage to and from Cincinnati and 
Pittsburgh, once in every four weeks. 

" No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every person on board 
will be under cover, made proof against rifle or musket balls, and convenient port 
holes for firing out of. Each of the boats is armed with six pieces, carrying a 
pound ball ; also a number of good muskets, and amply supplied with plenty 
of ammunition, strongly manned with choice hands, and the masters of approved 
knowledge. 

" A separate cabin from that designed for the men is partitioned off in each boat 
for accommodating ladies on their passage. Conveniences are constructed on board 
each boat so as to render landing unnecessary, as it might at times be attended 
with danger." 

In July of the year 1794, on the 22d of April of which year Pittsburgh was 
incorporated as a borough, a line of mail boats was established to run from Wheel- 
ing to Limetown, and back, once in every two weeks, the mails being carried from 
Wheeling to Pittsburgh, and back, on horseback. These boats were twenty-four 
feet long, built like a whale-boat, and steered with a rudder. They were manned 
by a steersman and four oarsmen to each boat. The men had each a musket and 
a supply of ammunition, all of which were snugly secured from the weather in. 
boxes alongside their seats. 

The building of the armed galleys, "President Adams" and "Senator Koss," 
in 1798, at Pittsburgh, is the next progressive fact in boat-building in Allegheny 
county. They were intended for service against the Spaniards on the lower 
Mississippi, and are mentioned in letters of that date as fine specimens of naval 
architecture. Of their subsequent service, or their final disposition, nothing is re- 
corded. These national vessels, and a brig of 120 tons, built at Marietta by Com- 
modore Preble in 1798-9, one of the first sea-going vessels constructed on the Ohio<, 
From 1801 to 1805 the building of sea-going craft was active at Pittsburgh. 

The building of sea-going vessels was established at Pittsburgh by a French 
gentleman, Louis Anastasius Tarascon, who emigrated from France in 1794, estab- 
lished himself in Philadelphia as a merchant. In 1799 he sent two of his clerks, 
Charles Brugiere and James Berthoud, to examine the course of the Ohio and 
Mississippi from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, and ascertain the practicability of 
sending ships, and clearing them ready rigged, from Pittsburgh to Europe and the 
West Indies. The two gentlemen reported favorably, and Mr. Tarascon associated 
them, and his brother, John Anthony, with himself, under the firm of "John A, 
Tarascon Brothers, James Berthoud & Co.," and immediately established at Pitts- 
burgh a large wholesale and retail store and warehouse, a ship yard, a rigging and 
sail loft, and anchor sraithshop, a block manufactory, and all other things necessary 
to complete sea-going vessels. Tlie first year, 1801, they built the schooner Amity, 
of 120 tons, and ihe ship Pittsburgh of 250 tons, and sent the former, loaded wiiii 



104 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

flour, to St. Thomas, and the other, also loaded with flour, to Philadelphia, from 
whence they sent them to Bordeaux, France, and brought back a cargo of wine, 
brandy and other French goods, part of which they sent to Pittsburgh in wagons 
at a carriage of from six to eight cents a pound. In 1802 they built the brig 
Nanina, 250 tons ; in 1803 the ship Louisiana of 300 tons, and in 1804 the ship 
Western Trader of 400 tons. The schooner Monongahela Farmer was built at 
Elizabeth, by a company of ship carpenters, who were brought out in 1787, from 
Philadelphia, by Colonel Stephen Bayard. She was owned by the builders and 
farmers of the neighborhood, who loaded her with a cargo of flour, and sent her 
via New Orleans to New York. The brig Ann Jane was built in 1803, at Eliza- 
beth, for the Messrs. McFarlane, merchants, and was of 450 tons burden. She 
was loaded with flour and whisky, and sailed to New York. This brig was one 
of the fastest sailers of her day, and was run for some time as a packet to New 
Orleans from New York. 

The year 1811 was an important one in the history of Allegheny county. In 
that year was built the first steamboat for the navigation of the western waters. 

This boat, called the New Orleans, was built at Pittsburgh in 1811. The loca- 
tion where she was constructed being at Suke's run, at or about where the Pitts- 
burgh, St. Louis & Cincinnati railroad bridge crosses the Monongahela. She was 
138 feet keel, and between 300 and 400 tons burden ; her cabin was in the hold, 
and she had port holes ; also a bowsprit eight feet in length, in ocean steamer 
style, which was painted sky blue. She was owned by Messrs. Fulton, Livingston 
and Roosevelt, and her construction was superintended by the latter gentleman. 
Her cost was $40,000. She was launched in March, and descended the river to 
Natchez, in December, at which point she took in her first freight and passengers, 
and from thence proceeded to New Orleans on the 24th of the same month. She 
continued to ply between New Orleans and Natchez until 1814, making the round 
trip in ten days, conveying passengers at the rate of $25 up and $18 down. On 
her first year's business she cleared $20,000 net. In the winter of 1814 she was 
snagged and lost at Baton Rouge. 

The formation of the company to build steamboats is thus mentioned in 
Cramer'' s Almanack, of 1810 : 

" A company has been formed for the purpose of navigating the river Ohio in 
large boats, to be propelled by the power of steam engines. The boat now on the 
stocks is 138 feet keel, and calculated for a freight as well as a passage boat between 
Pittsburgh and the Falls of the Ohio." 

The boat here alluded to was the one afterwards known as the " New Orleans." 
In the first years of steamboat building the progress was slow. While Roose- 
velt and Fulton had succeeded in the constructing the first practical "steamer,'' 
yet there were many difiiculties to be overcome in the perfect adaptation of steam- 
boats to the varying currents, rapids, shoals, floods and low waters of the western 
waters. The growth of boat building at Pittsburgh was, however, inevitable. 
However, energy and artificial m.eans may ultimately enable an industry to be es- 
tablished at any chosen point, the force of natural advantages is at all times the 



BOAT BUILDING. 105 

greatest factor. Those in Allegheny county have always beea so powerful that 
they have at all times placed it first and foremost in all the manufacturing indus- 
tries in which its population have engaged. 

While proximity of suitable material for the complete construction of ships or 
steamboats is a factor to success therein, yet primarily is the existence of navigable 
waters into which they can be launched and navigated to their destined point of 
delivery. This a force of nature of which Pittsburgh is in full possession. 

The hydraulic factor just quoted was in the years when steamboat building was 
inaugurated at Pittsburgh of far greater force than now, from the absence of the 
yet immaterialized transportation power of the railroad, although that was pre- 
dicted by Fulton when coming to Pittsburgh to arrange for the building of the 
" New Orleans." 

In the course of some conversation on the almost impassable nature of the 
mountains over which they were dragged with great toil, he said : "The day will 
come, gentlemen, I may not live to see it, but some of you who are younger pro- 
bably will, when carriages will be drawn over these mountains by steam engines, 
at a rate more rapid than that of a stage coach upon the smoothest turnpike." The 
then apparently absurdness of this prediction excited great laughter. 

The successful result of '' Fulton's steamboat " at once gave new value to the 
eighteen thousand miles of river navigation, continuous, from Pittsburgh, and the 
abundance of fine timber and ot,her requirements for boat building at that point 
made it beyond any competition the ship yard of the western rivers. 

For all the success of the "New Orleans" and the boats that immediately suc- 
ceeded her, the practicability of the navigation of the Ohio by steamboat was 
doubled. 

A writer in the Western Monthly Magazine states that, in 1816, he formed one 
of a company of gentlemen who, watching the long continued efforts of a stern- 
wheel boat to ascend the Horsetail ripple, five miles below Pittsburgh, came to the 
unanimous conclusion that such " a contrivance might do for the Mississippi as 
high as Natchez, but that "we of the Ohio must wait for some more happy cen- 
tury of inventions." 

While it would not be possible to give in the scope of this volume a history of 
the careers of the various boats built in Allegheny county, yet a brief notation of 
a few of the earlier boats is indulged in. 

The second boat constructed at Pittsburgh appears to have been the "Comet," 
of twenty-five tons, built by D. French, for Samuel Smith, in 1812-13. She had 
a stern wheel and a vibrating cylinder. She made one trip to Louisville in 1813 ; 
deceuded to New Orleans in 1814, made two trips to Natchez, and was sold and 
the engine put up in a cotton-gin. 

The " Vesuvius " and the " ^tna," of 340 tons each, were built by the " Missis- 
ippi Steam Boat Co." in 1813-14. The "Vesuvius," under the command of Cap- 
tain Ogden, left Pittsburgh, in the spring of 1814 for New Orleans; in July, 1816, 
she was burnt near New Orleans. The "^tna," under command of Captain Gale, 



106 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

started for New Orleans in March, 1815; and after reaching that point went into 
the Natchez trade. She was in continual employ until 1822, when she was con- 
demned as worn out. 

The " Enterprise," forty-jBve tons, was the fourth constructed in this vicinity. 
She was built at Brownsville, Pa., and made two trips to Louisville in 1814. She 
departed from Pittsburgh for New Orleans on the 1st of December, 1814, under 
command of Captain Henry M. Shreve, with a cargo of ordinance. For some 
time she was actively employed transporting troops. On the 6th of May, 1817, 
she left New Orleans for Pittsburgh, and arrived at Shippingport (Louisville) on 
the 30th, being twenty-five days from port to port, and the first steamer that ever 
arrived at that port from New Orleans ; which event the citizens of Louisville 
celebrated by a dinner to Captain Shreve. The "Enterprise" was lost at Eock 
Harbor in 1817. 

In 1816 the "Franklin," 125 tons, the "Oliver Evans," 75 tons, and the "Har- 
riet," of 40 tons, were built at Pittsburgh. The " Franklin " was built by Messrs. 
Shiras and Cromwell, and her engine was built by George Evans. She departed 
from Pittsburgh in December, 1816, and went into the Louisville and St. Louis 
trade. She was sunk in 1819, near St. Genevieve. The "Oliver Evans" was 
built by George Evans; left Pittsburgh December, 1816, for New Orleans. She 
burst one of her boilers in April, 1817, at Point Coupee, killing eleven men. The 
" Harriet " was constructed and owned by Mr. Armstrong, of Williamsport, Pa. 

The " Washington," 400 tons was built at Wheeling about this time, had her 
engines made at Brownsville. She was the first boat with boilers above deck — the 
boats previous to that having them in the hold. She, also, by making a round 
trip from Louisville to New Orleans, settled the question whether steamboats 
could be rendered useful as a mode of navigation for the ascending trade, and 
convinced the public, which had continued doubtful, of the practicability and suc- 
cess of steamboat navigation on the western waters. She was in part owned by 
Captain Henry M. Shreve, and was built under his immediate direction. 

A small boat called the "Pike" was built at Hendersonville, Kentucky, in 1816. 

The "General Pike," constructed at Cincinnati in 1818, was the first boat built 
for the exclusive accommodation of passengers. Her cabin was forty feet long 
and twenty-five feet wide. In addition she had fourteen staterooms. 

The "Expedition," 120 tons, and the "Independent," of 50 tons, were con- 
structed at Pittsburgh in 1818 for the Yellowstone expedition for the exploration 
of the Missouri. The "Independence" was the first steamboat that ascended the 
Missouri. 

The " Western Engineer," built in 1819, near Pittsburgh, under the direction 
of Major S. H. Long, of the United States Topographical Engineers, for the 
expedition of discovery to the sources of the Missouri and Rocky Mountains, was 
the first boat that ascended to Council Bluffs, 650 miles above St. Louis. 

From 1817, when the success of steamboat navigation on the western rivers 
was finally conceded by the public — convinced by the trips of the Washington 



BOAT BUILDING. lOT 

from Louisville to New Orleans and back in forty-five days — boat building rapidly 
increased. 

The following gives the boats constructed at Pittsburgh and vicinity from 1811 
to 1835. There were two hundred and twenty-six steamboats built. The table 
gives the names of one hundred and ninety -seven : 

1811. — New Orleans. 

1812.— Comet. 

1814. — J5tna, Buffalo, Vesuvius. 

1816. — James Monroe. 

1817. — Franklin, Geo. Madison, Gen. Jackson. 

1818. — Allegheny, Expedition, Independence, James Ross, St. Louis, Tamer- 
lane, Thos. Jefferson. 

1819. — Balise Packet, Car of Commerce, Cumberland, Dolphin, Olive Branch;, 
Rapids, Telegraph. 

1822.— Favorite, Gen. Neville. 

1823. — Eclipse, Phoenix, Pittsburgh & St. Louis Packet, Pittsburgh, Penn- 
sylvania, Rambler. 

1824. — American, Herald, President. 

1825. — Bolivar, Friendship, Gen. Brown, Gen. Wayne, Gen. Scott, LaFayette,. 
Paul Jones, Pocahontas, William Penn. 

1826.— America, Columbus, Commerce, DeWitt Clinton, Echo, Erie, Florida^ 
Fame, Gen. Coffee, Hercules, Illinois, Jubilee, Liberator, Lady Washington^. 
Messenger, New York. 

1827. — Essex, Maryland, New Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Shamrock, Shep- 
herdess, William D. Duncan. 

1828. — Baltimore, Cumberland, Caroline, Delaware, James O'Hara, Mis- 
souri, Neptune, North America, Powhattan, Phoenix, Plaquemine, Red Rover,. 
Star, Stranger, Talisman. 

1829. — Citizen, Cora, Corsair, Huron, Home, Huntsman, Hudson, Hatch.ee, 
Herald, Industry, Kentuckian, Lark, Monhican, Monticello, Nile, Packet, Red 
Rover, Ruhama, Talma, Trenton, Tallyho, Tariff', Uncle Sam, Uncas, Victory. 

1830. — Allegheny, Abeona, Enterprise, Eagle, Gondola, Gleaner, Mobile,. 
New Jersey, Ohio, Olive, Peruvian, Sam Patch. 

1831. — Argus, Antelope, Boston, Baltic, Carrollton, Columbus, Courier,. 
Choctaw, Dove, Henry Clay, Louisville, Mohawk, Napoleon, Pittsburgh, Planter,. 
Scout, Woodsman. 

1832. — Chief Justice Marshall, Chester, Chicasaw, Despatch, Free Trader,, 
Fame, Gazelle, Juniata, Lancaster, Mediterranean, Missourian, Mobile Farmer,, 
New Brunswick, Nimrod, Return, Sangamon, Transport, Western Engmeer,. 
Warrior. 

1833. — Boon's Lick, Cayuga, Farmer, John Nelson, Miner, Majestic, Moque,. 
Minerva, O'Connell, Ohioan, Privateer, Van Buren. 

1834. — Aid, Commerce, Claiborne, Galiman, Huntress, Hunter, IvanhoPj, 
Protector, Potosi, Plough Boy. 



:08 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

1835. — Alert, Algonquin, Arabian, Adventure, Big Black, Detroit, Dover, 
Dayton, Flora, Marion, Madison, Pawnee, Pioneer, Robert Morris, Rover, Slam, 
Selima, Tempest, Tuskina. 

In 1836 there were sixty-one steamboats built at iPittsburgh and vicinity, 
making one hundred and ninety -seven boats built in the period embraced in the 
table. There were built at Brownsville in the same period, twenty-two, and at 
leaver, seven. In that year the Alton, Asia, Amite, Boonville, Bee, Brighton, 
^oguehoma, Baltimore, Columbiana, Chamois, C. L. Bass, Camden, Corinthian, 
Emerald, Eutaw, Florida, General Wayne, Gipsey, Grand Gulph, George A. 
3ayard, Georgia, Huntsville, Havana, Howard, Harkaway, Kentucky, Kansas, 
Lilly, Loyal Hannah, London, Louisville, Mobile, Massillon, Nick Biddle, New- 
ark, New Beaver, New Lisbon, Ontario, Oceola, Palmyra, Pavillion, Prairie, 
Paris, Quincy, Robt. Morris, Rienzi, Salem, Sandusky, Savannah, St. Peters, Steu- 
benville Packet, St. Louis, Troy, Tremont, United States, Vandalia, Vermont, 
Wabash, Warren, Wm. Wirt, Wm. Hurlburt, were built. 

From 1836 to 1857 there were constructed at Pittsburgh and vicinity : 

1837. — Avalanch, Ariel, Asia, Albany, Alligator, Beaver, Butfalo Belle, 
Brighton, Burlington, Constellation, Ceylon, Canton, Camden, Cuba, Corinthiacj 
Ooquette, Columbia, Chilicothe. Casket, Comanche, Dolphin, Detroit, Eutaw , 
Embassy, Emperor, Fremont, Fox, Fallston, Fayette, Florence, Frances, Favorite, 
Georgia, Girard, Hunter, Huntress, H. L, Kinney, Irene, Itasca, Isabella, John, 
Mills, Kentucky, Liberty, Lady Marshall, Lily, Little Red, Liverpool, Loyalhanna* 
Louisville, Moravian, Mountaineer, Maryland, Monroe, Merrimack, Massillon, 
Muscogee, New Castle, New Lisbon, Niagara, Othello, Oronoko, Philadelphia, 
Patrick Henry, Peru, Putnam, Pittsburgh, Pulaski, Pirate, Pennsylvania, Paris, 
Rufus, Rolla, Rochester, Rodney, Roanoke, Susquehanna, Savana, Shannon, St. 
Louis, Salem, Steubenville, Salem, Troy, Tenntssee, Troubadour, Virginia, Vic- 
toria, Vermont, Wellsville, Waeousta. 

1838. — Arabian, Delaware, Express, Flora, Favorite, Gratiott, Havanna, Julia, 
Lady of the Lake, Oconee, Pioneer, Rhine, Thames, Trident. 

1839. — Albert, Bost' n. Excel, Fulton, Gallatin, lone, Kiitanning, Meteor, 
Pauline, Zanesville. 

1840. — Algonquin, Massachuetts. 

From 1837 to 1841, the records were destroyed by fire, so that the list be- 
tween those dates is incomplete. 

1841. — Adelaide, Augusta, Allegheny, Cecila, Coaster, Clairon, Duquesne, 
Forrest, Gallant, Gen. Brady, Galena, Glide, Herchel, lola, laazk Walton, Juni- 
-ata, John H. Bills, Leander, Mentor. Meridan, Montezuma, Marietta, Maine, 
Messenger, Marion, Mungo Park, May Flower, New Haven, North Bend, Orpheus, 
Orphan Boy, Ohio, Ranger, Raritan, Traveler, Two Pollies, Utica, West Point, 
Warren. 

1842. — Allegheny, Alps, Alpine, Auburn, Brunette, Belmont, Belle, Brilliant, 
^lidge Water, Belle of Red River, Ben Rush, Cicero, Columbus, Collier, Cleav- 



BOAT BUILDING. 10^ 

land, Dresden, Eveline, Expert, Emma, Empire, Importer, Ida, Isaphena, Edwin 
Hickman, Highland, Hope, Jas. Ross, Lebanon, Little Stewart, Lehigh, Lighter, 
Lancaster, Moxahala, Marquette, Maclntyre, Michigan, Minstrel, Muskingum. 
Mingo Chief, North Queen, New York, Orleans, Oella, Osprey, Pinta, Penelope^ 
Panama, R. Clayton, Rambler, Saratoga, Sciota Valley, Vigilance. 

1843.— Belfast, Clipper, Charleston, Champion, Columbiana, Eldorado, 
Etna, Guide, Herald, Little Rock, Lexington, Missouri, Mail, Muscle, Majes- 
tic, Olive Branch, Ohio Mail, Rose of Sharon, Sarah, St. Charles, Tobacco 
Plant, Urilda, Vista, Weston, White Cloud, Wing and Wing. 

1844. — Allegheny Mail, Alliquippa, Atlas, Amulet, Archer, American, Arrow 
Brunswick, Big Hatchee, Capital, Consul, Clinton, Domain, Franklin, Fair Play, 
Frelinghuysen, Falcon, Gen. Markle, Hibernia, H. Kenny, Iron City, Independ- 
ence, Josephine, J. N. White, Lewis F. Linn, Medium, Mountaineer, May Duke, 
Messenger, North America, National, New England, Native, Planet, Palestine, 
Plymouth, Revenue Cutter, Revenue, Rhode Island, Sam Seary, Sligo, Tobby, 
Tiger, Uncle, Wapello, Wilmington, Whitesville, Wabash Valley, Wash, White 
Wing. 

1845. — Atlas, Arcadia, Boreas No. 2, Belle of Illinois, Circassian, Cambria, 
Columbia, Commerce, Confidence, Defiance, Domain, Emily, Financier, Harlem, 
Hunter, Hatchee, Hill, Lake Erie, Louis McLain, Laura, Laurene, Motive, Mil- 
waukee, Miner, Monongahela, May Queen, Nebraska, North Carolina, Newark, 
New Hampshire, Paytona, Prairie Bird, Pink Pilot, Planter, Rockaway, Robert 
Morris, Regina, Susquehanna, Triumph, Tributary, Union, Uncle Ben, Wista,. 
Wisconsin, Walter Forward. 

1845. — Billow. Cyrus, Chamberlin, Colorado, Dominion, John I. Hardin, 
South America, Wakendah. 

1847. — Anson Moore, American Eagle, Anglo Saxon, America, Avalanche,. 
Arrow No. 2, Arrowline, Alert, Alton, American Star, Allen Glover, Boreas No. 
2, Boston, Beaver, Belle of Pittsburgh, Buxa, Buena Vista, Brady, Bridgeport 
Caleb Coke, Camden, Caroline, Cinderella, Comet, Caroline No. 2, CoL Yell, 
Cashier, Col. S. W. Black, Clipper No. 2, Chieftain, Dover, Danube, Deer Creek, 
Dispatch, Dewitt Clinton, Dubuque, Diadem, Declaration, Eureka, Fairmont^ 
Freedom, Friendship, Gen. Scott, Gen. Work, Germantown, Genessee, Gladiator, 
Gen. Jessup, Hibernia No. 2, Hudson, Homshitts, Highlander, I. I. Crittenden,. 
Iron City, Jewess, Juniata, No. 2, John Foster, Judge Mitchell, James No. 2, 
Liberty, Loyalhanna, Lady Byron No. 2, Lewis Wetzell, Muzza Buxa, Marlatt, 
Richardson, Monterey, Mt. Vernon, Michigan No. 2, Mary Ann, North River, New 
England No. 2, Niagara, Nashville, Star, Old Tom, O'Hush, Oregon, Oswego,. 
Oneeta, Pilot No. 2, Palo Alto, Pacific, Pelican, Robert McDonald, Reville, Rio 
Grand, Rambler No. 2, Rough and Ready, Return, Roscoe, Ringgold, Rowena, 
Rockaway, Sun Beam, Schuylkill, St. Anthony, Shipper, Swan, S. B. Magnet, 
Savannah, Trenton, Talisman, W. J. Kountz, W. W. Marlatt, W. P. Martin, Wells- 
ville No. 2, Wellsvilie, Yankee, Umpire, Union. 



110 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

1848. — Alice, Alert No. 2, Alavia, Andrew Fulton, Atlanta, A. Mason, 
Ariadne, American Eagle, Allegheny Clipper, American, Baltic, Brilliant, Bed- 
ford, Brajos, Blue Wing, Chief Justice, Cumberland, Connecticut, Carrier, 
Columbian, Com. Perry, Columbian No. 2, Charles Carroll, Dolphin, Dolphin 
No. 2, Eureka, Euphrates, Farmer, Financier, Forest, Fort Pitt, Fashion, Gondo- 
lier, Grand Turk, Green Wood, Geneva, Gen. Green, Gen. De Kalb, Hope No. 2, 
Hail Columbia, Hudson No. 2, Isaac Newton, Ionia, I. S. Porter, Ivanhoe, Jacob 
Poe, James Nelson, Josephine, John Carver, John 0. Adams, John B. Gordon, 
Jack Ogle, Jacob Vaughan, Z. Taylor No. 2, Kit Carson, Lamartine, Lewis Wetzel 
No. 2, Mona, Marshall, Northern Light, Nominee, Newton, Oriental, Paris, Pax. 
tona, Palmetto, Penn, Planter, Peter Miller, Robert Wightman, Roxanna, Rebecca 
-Shenandoah, Sam Miner, Sam Fowler, Sago, Tuscarora, W. Williams, Washing- 
ton, W. A. Violet, Wave No. 2, Waggoner, Wave, Wyoming, Western World, 
Virginia, Visitor, Venezuela, Vermont. 

1849. — Andrew Miller, A. G. Mason, Anna, Amazonia, Ben West, Boston, 
Charles W. Brown, Columbiana No. 2, Cinderella No. 2, Eclipse, Exchange, Em- 
pire, Euphrates No. 2, Enterprise, Farmer, Fashion No. 2, Globe, Glaucus, Gen. 
Garner, Grand Turk, Globe, Hope, Hamburg, H. Campbell, Hancock, Iron City, 
I. L. McLean, John B. Gordon No. 2, Joe Vandergrift, James Milligan, James 
Oormly, James Bayne, Keniesy, Kentucky, Lowell, Lydia Collins, May Flower, 
Monsoon, Minnesota, Mary, Mary McKenney, Pittsburgh, Philip Dodderidge, 
Olive, Osceola, Ohio, Ohio No. 2, Revielle, State, Shipper, San Francisco, St. 
Francis, Samuel Milliken, Tennessee, Tempest, Wm. Phillips, W. J. Kountz, Wm. 
Conly, Wm. Worth, Wymiton, West Newton, Virginia. 

1850. — Freeman, Rawdon, Fashion No. 2, Grampers, Gossamer, Hungarian, 
Hope No. 2, Hindoo, "Julia Dean, John McKee, Keystone State, Kate Fleming, 
Luella, Motta Lincoln, Milton, Martin Hoffman, Magnolia, Messenger, Ferry 
Boat, Navigation, New Boston, Pacific, Paul Anderson, Retrieve, Robert Rogers, 
Republic, R. H. Lindsey, Rockaway No. 2, Sarrannack No, 2, Starr, S. F.Vinton, 
Summit, Tempest, Thos. Scott, Umpire No. 2, Thos. Shriver, Union, Yough- 
iogheny, Washington, Jefferson. 

1851.-: — Ambassador, Aleonia, Black Diamond, Banner State, Ban Coursin, 
Cashier, Cataract, Corn Planter, Colbert, Cumberland No. 2, Cornelia, Compro- 
mise, C. Hays, Clara, Caspian, Elephant, Editor, Elk, Excel, Elvina, Express, 
Franklin, Forest City, Falcon, Globe, Gov. Meigs, Gossamer, Georgia, Hindoo, 
Heroine, Huron, Juniata No. 2, J. M. Harris, Jane Franklin, Justice, Kate, Lake 
Erie No. 2, Malta, Mat Johnston, Redstone, Magnet, Milton, Ranger No. 2, Molly 
Grath, Navigator, Obion, Regulator, Ruby,]Swamp Fox, R. M. Patton, Statesman, 
Salem, Trenton, Stephen Bayard, Venture, Winchester. 

1852. — Alabama, Arctic, America, Alliance, Active, B. B. Barker, Buckeye 
Belle, Badger State, Ben Campbell, Bedford, Belle Quigley, Calm, Cleopatra, 
City of Huntsville, Col. Bayard, Dan Convers, Envoy, Empress, Eagle, Equinox, 
Fiinny Malone, Frank Keeling, Forest Rose, Fulton, Granite State, Gaudalupe, 



BOAT BUILDING, 111 

Golden State, Georgetown, Honduras, Helen Mar, H. T. Yeatman, J. Jinkins, 
Justice, J. B. Gordon No. 2, John McKee, Jennie Deans, John Simonds, James 
Watt, Juniata No. 2, Jefferson, St. Clair, John Strader, John McFadden, Key- 
stone State, Keystone, Lunette, Luzerne, Loudon, Liberty No. 2, Lake Erie No. 
2, Major Adrian, Monticello, Manchester, Persia, Paul Anderson, Raven, Prairie 
City, Return, Statesman, Troy, Thos. P. Ray, U. S. Mail, York Stale. 

1853. — Australia, Adelia, Alice, Alvin Adams, Alida, Altoona, Augusta, 
Admiral, Argyle, Advance, A. Mason, Ben Bolt, Crystal Palace, Col. Morgan, 
Cheviot, Caroline, Clara Dean, Cuba, Castle Garden, Eclipse of Texas, F. X. 
Aubrey, Fanny Fern, Garden City, Golden State, Henrietta, Hurricane, John 
Herron, James Lyon, Jean Webre, James Park, Look Out, Latrobe, Michigan, 
Magnolia, Montauk, Mary L. Dougherty, Oakland, Oswichee, Quaker City, Ran- 
ger No. 2, Tampa, Sam Snowden, Tornado, South Carolina, Time and Tide, 
Tropic, Unicorn, Vienna, Young America, Yorktown. 

1854. — Americus, Alexander Wilson, Alhambra, Alert, Allegheny, Aquilo, 
Advance, Ben Franklin, Belle Golding, Belle of Pittsburgh, Billow, Brazil, Bay 
City, Challenge, Convoy, Cherubusco, City of Knoxville, Conewago, Chicago, 
Captain Luce, Ella, Edinburgh, Endeavor, Empire, Evansville, Empire City, 
Delegate, D, Lynch, Gazelle, Forester, Fairfield, Fairy Queen, Gray Cloud, 
Genoa, George Albree, Great Western, Grand Turk, Gen. Larimer, Hercules, 
Hunter, Hero, Hornet, Hawk Eye, John Buck, J. Lazear, John Wolf, Jr., Illinois 
Belle, Justice, Jeanette, Jack Ogle, J. H. Done, John C. Fremont, John S. 
Pringle, Kate Cassel, Liberty No. 2. Lundy's Lane, Monongahela Belle, Minnesota 
Belle, Mary Anne, Martha Anderson, Minerva, Nebraska, Orphan Boy, 0. R. Coe, 
Ocean Wave, Philadelphia, Parthenia, Progress, Princeton, Prairie Rose, Rescue, 
Rosalie, Ranchero, San Antonio, Sultan, South America, Sea Gull, Shi^giss, 
Swallow, Two Brothers, Tigress, Tropic, W. A. Eaves, Wm. Rogers, Winifrede, 
Wm. Bagaley, Zebra. 

1855. — Alma, Alex. Wilson. A. G. Mason, Aunt Letty, Aquila, Atlantic, Alle- 
gheny, Brothers, Brown Dick, Brilliant, Captain Hazlett, Charlie Farwell, Clifton, 
Delegate, Defender, Eolian, Emma Graham, Emma, Eunice, Eliza, Freedom, 
Fanny Harris, Fairy, Falls City, Flora Fashion, Fred Lorenz, Great West, Gipsy, 
Grapeshot, Gold Hunter, Gibralter, Gen. Larimer, Henry Blake, Hays, Hornet, 
Harriett, Henry Graff, Hetty, Home, Jennie Davis, Juniata No. 3, Jefferson, J^ 
B. Carson, Joe Torrence, J. Lowry No. 1, Kentucky Home, Lebanon, Lucy May, 
Liberty No. 2, Laclede, Lewis Barnes, Laura, Monongahela, Morgan Mason, Mus- 
catine, Mary Ann, Missouri, Mahala, May, Minerva, Merango, Messenger, North 
Star, Paul Jones, Philadelphia, Progress, Prairie City, Princeton, Rochester, 
Rosalie, Reliance, Red Fox, Rescue, R. P. Voorhis, R. F. Sass, St. Clair, Sun- 
beam, Swallow, Silver Wave, Superb, Saucy Jack, Sam Young, Star of the 
West, Soverign, Shenango, St. Lawrence, Tribune, Tigress, *Wm. Baird, Wm. H, 
Denny, Wenona, W. J. Walter, Wm. Wallace, Yorktown. 



112 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

1856. — Alligator, Areola, Argonaut, Argo, Arkansas, Apleton Belle, Adriatic^ 
Boone, Belmont, B. I. Smith, Cambridge, Chas. Avery, Cabinet, Clara Hine, Capt^ 
Mark Sterling, Cremona, Commerce, Cora, Chevalier, Coal Hill, Chicago, Chas- 
Avery, Dick Ev^ans, Dunleith, Denmark, Dick Gray, Energy, Era, Echnonia, Fire 
Fly, Gen. Scott, Gray Eagle, Great Western, Grenada Belle, Gen. G. Washing- 
ton, Gold Hunter, Grampus No. 2, Hunter, Hartford City, Hanibal, Hibernia, 
Harmonia, Hiawatha, James Wood, John S. Pringle, James Wilson, Jennie Davis,. 
J. M. Convers, James Park, James Raymond, Jos S. Conn, Island City, Jedd), 
Iowa, Lake Champlain, Lacrosse, Lightfoot, Lizzie Bay, Lucy, Lake Erie No. 2, 
Metropolis, Melnotte, Medora, Morning Star, Metropolitan, Moderator, Melrose, 
Muscle, Marmer, Monongahela, Orphan Boy, Nathaniel Holmes, Prima Donna, 
Pittsburgh Glass Trader, Rocket, R. F. Lass, Resolute, Red Wing, Stillwat r, 
Samuel P. Hibberd, Sir Wm. Wallace, Storm, Sligo, Tom Jones, Tom Brierly,. 
Thos. Scott, Talisman, Telegraph, Time, Variety, Virginia Belle, Vixen, W. I. 
Maclay, W. B. Terry, W. M. Porter, Yankee Notions. 

1857. — Atkinson, Anglo Saxon, Alps, Acacia Cottage, Advance, A. McCart- 
ney, Brady, Aurora, Banner, Boon, Charley Bowen, Columbus, Celeste, Cremona, 
Commodore Perry, City of Memphis, Chippewa, Council Bluff, Chippewa Falls, 
Charlie Watson, Cheviot, Col. S. H, Judson, D. W. Martin, Dan Pollard, Dr. 
Kane, Decalion, D. D. Dickey, Decota, Diamond, Daniel Bushnell, Dew Drop, 
Dick Fulton, Eau Claire, Endor, E. K. Kane, Economy, E. M. Ryland, Era No. 2, 
Eagle, Florence, Fred Loven, Francis, Fortune, Fame, Fulton City, Fort Wayne, 
George Boyce, Goody Friends, Geo. C. Veach, G. H. Wilson, G. D. Bates, Glen- 
wood, G. N. Abbey, Greensboro, Grey Fox, Hastings, Harmonia, Henry Clay^ 
Hazel Dell, J. W. Hailman, Isadore, Isaac Halford, J. Barnett, John Flack, 
James Plunkett, Jennie Grey, Jennie Whipple, Judge McClure, Indian, J. L. 
Hyatt, Key West, Lady Washington, Lady Elgin, Lizzie Lynch, Little Dorrit, 
Lizzie Martin, Medora, Minnetonka, Mill Boy, Marmora, Mary Cook, Mist, North- 
erner, Norway, Norwester, Niota Belle, New Cumberland, North River, Neptune, 
Newcastle, Olean, Orb, Ocean Spray, Omaha City, Paul Jones, Peru, Poland, 
Potomac, Quapaw, Rodolph, R. B. Miller, Rosalie, Robt. C. Yates, Roebuck, 
Spread Eagle, Southerner, Star No. 2, St. Paul, Stillwater, Stephen Decatur, 
Thomas Moore, Tom Jones, V. B. Horton, Watossa, Wyandott, Wild Pigeon, W. 
S. Walker, W. Bartle, W. P. Reynolds. Wisconsin, White Rose, Wm. Rhodes,. 
W. H. Brown, Wm. C. Robinson, Utah, J. W. Cook, S. Kennedy, Lake City, St. 
Paul, D. Z Brickell, John N. Shank, G. C. Dunwell, Spray, Lewis S, L. Vander- 
grift, Joha Edie, E. N. Tracey, Jeremiah Forse, D. T. Brown, I. Whistler, Arizo- 
nia, Aurora. 

From 1858 to 1875, inclusive, a period of eighteen years, there was constructed 
in the vicinity of and enrolled in the district of Pittsburgh, six hundred and forty- 
nine steamboats, wh(ise aggregate tonnage was one hundred and fifty-five thousand 
two hundred and fifty-three tons, and whose value Avas twenty-one millions eight 
hundred and eighty -six thousand and seventy-three dollars. In the same period 



BOAT BUILEING. 113 

there was constructed five hundred and eighteen barges, whose tonnage was one 
hundred thousand eight hundred and eighty- three tons; also four hundred and 
ninety-six keel and flat boats, having a tonnage of twenty-one thousand six hun- 
dred and sixty-two tons, and twenty-six ferry boats, with a tonnage of twenty-six 
hundred and eighty-one tons; being an aggregate tonnage construction of tv/o 
hundred and eighty thousand four hundred and seventy-nine tons, having an ag- 
gregate value of over twenty-two millions of dollars. 

The following list gives the names, it is thought, of all the steamboats in that 
period : their tonnage, as well as the other craft built, being given in the foregoing 
paragraph : 

1858. — Venango, Lake Erie No. 3, Sky Lark, Echo, Rowena, Pembinaw, 
Canada, Decotah, Ida May, Silver Lake, Victoria, Keokuk, Panola, Cedar Rapids, 
Jim Watson, C. Rogers, J. S. Cosgrave, Elmira, Diana, Fannie, A. G. Brown, 
Robt. Watson, Flora Temple, Emma Bett, Eagle, Vulcan, Era No. 3. 

1859. — Conestoga, Niagara, Sam. Clark, Allegheny Belle No. 4, Northener, 
John Ray, Des Moines City, J. N. Kellogg, Coloma, Col. Gus. Linn, Post Boy, 
Emma, Jacob Painter, Red Chief No. 2, Leon, Nile, South Bend, Undine, Uncle 
Ike, Julia Roane, Indianola, Eva No. 4^ John C. Calhoun, Mimmei'lyn, Pine Bluff, 
Two Kings, News Boy, Indian No. 2, Andy Fulton, Grey Eagle, Cotton Plant, 
Laclaire, Lucy Gwin, Lioness, Mingo, Marisanna, Picayune No. 3, T. D. Horner, 
St. Cloud, Izetta, Collier, Telegraph, Dunbar, Clara Poe, Belle Peoria, Persia, 
Bellewood, Dan'l B. Miller, George Thompson, Southern Flora, Vigo, Lone Star, 
David Lynch. 

1860. — West Wind, Storm No. 2, Hawkeye State, Mohawk, Sucker State, 
Porter Rhodes, Sanny Side, Diadem, Gen. Anderson, Science, Arago, Dolphin, 
Porter, Alfred Robb, Webster, Maquota City, S. C. Baker, Chas. Miller, Alamo, 
Gallatin, Rose Douglass, Sabine, Frontier City, Wild Cat, Mustang, Arab, May 
Duke, Gazelle, Jackson, Cricket No. 2, Franklin, Time, Ad. Hine, Linden, Tale- 
quah, Lily, Era No. 5, Key West No. 2, Judge Fletcher, Era No. 6, Uchee, Wm. 
H. Young, Jonas Powell, Cornie, Liberty No. 3, La Salle, Arkansas, Emma Dun- 
can, Matamoras, Commercial, 0. H. Ormsby, John F. Carr, Sampson, Dick Ful- 
ton No. 2, Tycoon, '^ W. H. B ," V. P. Wilson, Isaac Hamraett, John T. McCombs, 
Kenton, Sunshine, Robt. Fulton, Daniel Bushnell, James Hale, Robert Lee, 
Westmoreland, Col. Stelle, Citizen. 

1S61. — Silver Lake No. 2, Lexington, Continental, Bill Henderson, Florence 
L lia, G. W Grabam, Igo, Emma Graham, Billy Hodgeson, Cottage, W. H. Dinnis 
Eglantine, Warren Packard, Geo. W. Stone. 

1862. — Lacon, Monterey, Petrel, Tiber, Estella, Monitor No. 2, Express 
Market Boy, Parthenia, Navigation, Silver Lake No. 3, Uncle Sam, New York 
R. H. Barnum, Glide, Grampus No. 2, Exchange, Laura Bell, Golden Era, Juliet, 
Marmora No. 2, Saint Clair, Brilliant, Forest Rose, Romeo, New Era, B. C. Levi, 
Monitor, Tigress No. 2, Volunteer^ Silver Cloud, Key West No. 3, White Rose, 
Liberty No. 3, Coal BlutF, Ella Faber, Nellie Rogers, Tempest, Starlight, Orient, 
8 



114 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Cottage No. 2, Advance, Argonaut, Duchess, Emma No. 2, Shark, Whale, Mary 
E. Forsyth, Eclipse, Dick Fulton. 

1863. — Armada, Armenia, Nevada, Emperor, Argosy, Jennie Rogers, Schuy- 
ler Majestic, Davenport, Lily Martin, Carrie Jacobs, James R. Gilmore, Fox, 
Emma, City of Pekin, Sea Gull, Thistle, R. K. Duukerson, Camelia. Silver Lake 
No. 4, Oil City, Echo No. 2, Glide, Princess, Mercury, Colossus, Calypso, Geneva, 
Welcome, Albert Pearce, Norma, Bertha, James Rees, Gen. Grant, Vigilant? 
Nightingale, Nyanza, Muscatine, America, Prairie State, Key West No. 4, Savanna, 
"Sylph, Hettie Hartupee, Areola, Alice, Olive, Carrie, Tiger, J. T. Stockdale, Leal 
Leoto, Capt. John Brickell, Charmer, Oil Exchange, General Irwin, Ida Reese, 
Argosy No. 2, Silver Cloud No. 2, Natrona, Petrel No. 2, Bengal Tiger, Tom 
Eees Leonidas, Julia, Paragon, Lion, Hawkeye No. 2, Rover, Adelaide, Hunter 
No. 2 Urilda, Panther, Tom Farrow, Black Hawk, Advance No. 2, Leopard, Star, 
N. J. Bigley, Darling, Kate Robinson, Wm. Barnhill. 

1864. — Hercules, Jos. Pierce, Warmer, Echo No. 3, Silver Spray, Alpha, 
Golden Eagle, Damsel, Benton, Brilliant, Little Giant, Little Whale, Hero, Trav- 
eler Argos, Kate Kearney, M.S. Mepham, Ontario, Hyena, Montana, Bayard 
Sewickley, Petrolia, Cherokee, John Taars, Diamond, Elizabeth, Louisville, 
Roanoke, Evening Star, Financier, A. Jacobs, Maggie Hays, Kate B. Porter, 
Alex. Chambers, Painter No. 2, Venture, Glide No, 3, Petrolia No. 2, Charlie 
Chever, A. Foster, Columbia, Alice, Kate Putnam, Virginia Barton, Lotus, Nora, 
Mist Guidon, Stella, Hawk, Storm No. 3, Katie, Pilgrim, Wananita, Anna 
Onward, Arrow, W. F. Curtis, Gipsey, John S. Hall, Zephyr, Bob Connell, Vet- 
eran, Little Alps, Rocket, Little Jim Rees, Allegheny, Centralia, Spray, Iron 
City, Yorktown, Leclaire No. 2, Commonwealth, Jos. Fleming, Coal City, Star- 
light, Picket, Tamaulipas, Champion, Alex. Speer, Argosy, A. J. Baker, Bee, 
Laura No. 2, Hard Times, Coal Valley, Albion. 

From 1864 to 1887, inclusive, the river traffic having suffered from the multi- 
plication of railroads, the boat-building "industry decreased in its volume. There 
were, however, the following steamboats built : 

1865. — Armadillo, W. H. Osborn, Deer Lodge, Payette, Belle, Lark, Lorena, 
Dart, Ajax, Parana, Amelia Poe, J. S. Neel, Greenback, Reindeer, Forest City, 
Mink Nimrod, Pike, Gleaner, Emma Logan, Dictator, Samuel Roberts, Minnie, 
Wild Duck, Fearless, Peerless, Imperial, Oil Valley, Julia No. 2, Tidioute, Key- 
stone C. D. Fry, Neville, Antelope, Sybil, John Hanna, Kangaroo, Mary Davage 
Ida Rees No. 2, Wild Boy, Annie Lovell, Messenger, Barnett, Fred Wilson, Grey 
Eagle, Ella, Katie Timmen. 

1866. — Luella, Glasgow, Rubicon, Winchester, Jas. L. Graham, Importer; 
Emma No. 3, Ella, N. J. Bigley, Jim Wood, Wm. Osborn, Peter Balen, Dan Hine' 
Talequah, Minnesota, Miner, Elkhorn, Nile, Blue Lodge, Gray Hound, Chieftain, 
Pine Bluff, Arabian, Resolute, Elector, Rapidan, R. C. Gray, Lotus No. 2, S. M, 
Crane, Fair Play, Fort Smith, W. A. Caldwell, Van Buren, Ezra Porter, Belle 
Vernon, Quickstep, Rochester, Atlanta, Simpson Horner, Sam. Brown, Flicker, 
Mary Ann, Grand Lake, Glendale, Dexter, Jim Brown, Exchange, Baltic. 



BOAT BUILDING. 115 

1867. — Elizabeth, Ida Stockdale, Elisha Bennett, Diamond, Great Republicj 
Dubuque Boaz, Linton, Success, Active, James Gilmore, Clipper, City of Mc- 
Oregor, Glenwood No. 2, J. N. McCullough, Rapidan No. 2, Abe Hays, J. F. 
Dravo, Selma, Mary Alice, Reliable (Schooner). 

1868. — Arkandosea, Undine, Peninah, Sallie, J. A. Blackmore, Andrew Ack- 
ley. Mountain Boy, Park Painter, A. E. Pierpont, J. D. Johnson, Galatea, M. 
Whitmore, Ft Gibson, W. M. Stone, Economist. 

1869. — Mollie Ebert, Silver Bow, Carrie V. Kountz, Three Lights, Nick Wall 
<lIolossal, Minneapolis, Flirt, Ironsides, Australia, Mountain Belle, Matamoras 
No. 2, Lotus No 3, Jefferson, Baranquilla, Julia A. Rudolph, Batesville, Grand 
Lake No. 2, Chas. H. DurflFee, Hornet No. 2, Lioness No. 2, Phoenix, Irwin, St. 
Louis, Harry A. Jones, Fred Wilson No. 2, Tom Rees No. 2, Samson No. 2, 

1870. — Ruth, Carrie V. Kountz, Arlington, City of Kvansville, Juniata, Far 
West, Lake Superior Red Wing, Trader, Fontenelle. Granite State, R. J. Lock- 
wood, Exchange, Carrie Converge, Tidal Wave, Mollie Moore, N. J. Bigley No. 2, 
Oeorge Roberts, Thirteenth Era, Oil Valley No. 2, Samuel Clark, Joseph H. Big- 
ley, Brill, John A. Wood, Wm. Cowan, Oceanus, Veteran No. 2, R. J. Grace, 
Henry C. Yeager, J. Sharp McDonald. 

1871. — May Lowery, John Bigley, Belle of Texas, Glencoe, Tom Dodsworth, 
John Gilmore, D. T. Lane, E. H. Durfee, Denver, Esperanza, Nellie Peck, Lady 
Lee, West Virginia, Katie P. Kountz, Baton Rouge Belle, Tom Lysle, James 
Jackson, Charlie McDonald, Belle Rowland, Geneva, Cora Bell, Park Painter 
No. 2, Storm, Jos. A. Stone, John Penney, J. S. Mercer, Robert Sample, San 
Juan, Alice Brown, John F. Tolle, Abe McDonald, Ben Wood, N. M. Jones, 
AthleUc. 

1872. — Alex. Foster, Bill, Billy Collins, Charles Brown, Evan Williams, Emma 
Graham, Exporter, Ella Layman, George Lysle, Grand Lake No. 2, George 
Baker, Iron Mountain, J. 0. Keeper, John Dippold, T. A. Stone, Kate Dickson, 
Key West, Lillie, Little Andy Fulton, Maggie Smith, Modoc, Murillo, My Choice, 
M. Dougherty, Nellie Walton, Oakland, Paragon, Relief, Reliable No. 2 
(schooner), Samuel Miller, Shippers' Own, William Wagner, W. G. Horner No. 
2, Western, Acorn. 

1873. — Advance, Ark, B. D. Wood, Belle McGowan, Eliza, Enterprise, Hip- 
popotamus, Horner, G. L. Risher, Joseph Walton, Josephine, S. W. Morgan, 
Rover No. 1, Rover No. 2, Rainbow, Transit. 

1874. — Joseph Warner, Jennie Walker, Rainbow, David Wood. 

1875.— Andrew Foster, Benton, Big Foot, C.^W. Batchelor, Chas. A. Wood, 
Cumberland, Carrol, Chas W. Mead, Dauntless, Fanchon, George Baker, George 
F. Danna, Gen. Mead, John L. Rhoads, Jack Gumbert, James Neal, Rose Miller, 
Robt. McChesney, Seven Sons, Scout, Shingo, Thomas J. Darrah, Tennessee, 
Trader, W. S. Holt. 

1876. — Boston, Collier No. 2, G. A. Greer, Gov. Garland, Gibsonton, Hard 
Cash, Joseph K. Williams, Joseph Cook, John Snowden, Peninah, Stella Mc» 
Closkey, South Side, Telegram, William Thaw. 



116 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

1S11.—S. Woodyard, Black Hills, Big Horn, Coal Blufif No. 2, Decker, Bro3.^ 
Elk Born, E. S. McLain, Emma, F. S. T., Francis Murphy, Gen Custer, G. W. K. 
Bayley, George A. Laskell, Hercules, Hiclus, Hawkeye, H. B. Leonard, Hattie 
Rowland, Iron Clad, Ida, Iron Duke, Ironton, J. Bell, J. F. Hague, John Porter^ 
James Laugblin, James Nixon, James W. Gould, J. R. Laskell, Jack Gumbert,. 
Kate Hooper, Keystone, Katie Stockdale, Leonie, Little Charlie, Liberty, Lillie-,. 
Mamie McCloskey, McKelvy, Oakland, Orient, Occident, Onward, Pike, Robert 
.Cook, Rose Bud, Rover, Smoky City, Sidney Dillon, T. C. Collins, Tillman, 
Viola, W. C. Geoffrey. 

1878. — Alice, Annie Roberts, Alert, Albie, Alice Bell, Blanch, Boaz Bellaire, 
Buckeye State, Bessemer, Carrier, Clinton, Dick Fulton, Drake, Dacotah Belle, 
Emma Cooper, Eclipse, E. I. Hulings, F. G. Batchelor, Germania, George 
Matherson, Gen. S. Terry, Gen. G. D. H. Rucher, Green No. 1, Geneva, Gen., 
Chas. H. Tompkins, Geo. H. Crawford, H. M. Graham, John P Thorn, Joe, J. B. 
M. Keklor, J. S. Neel, John P. Thorn, Josie Harry, Joe Scay No. 2, J. B. O'Brien, 
Jos. B. Scully, Katie Williams, La Belle, Lucy, Maud Willmot, Mary Morgan, 
Martin Speed, Montana, Nellie Brown, Norma, Frank B Nimick, Pittsburgh, 
Pearl, Ruby, S. Thorn, Soho, Vigilant, W. Quickham, Wharton McKnight. 

1879. — Dacotah, Harry Brown, James Lee, John E. Tygert, Mary C. Camp- 
bell, Plow Boy, Wyoming. 

1880. — Alarm, Chas. Jutte, Dean Adams, Dove, Eagle, Exquisite, Florida, H.. 
T. Dexter, Harry Earle, G. W. Bunton, Iron Age, Ida Lee, James H. Rtees, J> 
McC. Creighton, John S. Hopkins, John C. Fisher, James O'Connor, Little Bill, 
Little Fred, Pacific, Stella, Scotia, Short Cut, Tenafly, W. T. Wheless, W. 
Jones, W. Kraft. 

1881. — Billy Ezel, Comet, Delta, Electa, Excel, Iron Duke, Iron Cliff, Jim 
Brown, John Gilbert, John Dippel, John Moon, John Lomas, James Caldwell, 
Keystone, Little Dick, Little Fred, Lud. Keefer, Mark Winnett, M. G. Kcox, Mike 
Dougherty, Maggie, R. B. Kendall, Rescue, Sam Brown, S. L.Wood, Tide,Waspj 
W. W. Neil. 

1882. — Boaz, Charlie Clarke, Cora, Chattahootchie, Dan'l Kane, J. M.Powell, 
James G. Blaine, John K. Davison, Kate Adams, Lulu Wood, Lizzie Timmondsy 
Percy Kelsey, Raymond Horner, W. Stone, Will S. Hays. 

1883. — Alabama, Clifton, Chicasaw, Eugene, Frank Gilmore, Frank Stain, 
Fred. Wilson, Gondola, Gayooe, Joe Peters, Little Ike, Monterey, Minnie Ray, 
R, A. Speer, Robert Jenkins, Phoenix. 

1884. — Creighton, Ed. Roberts, Geo. F. Danna, Hattie Brown, Ida Stockdale^ 
Pittsburgh, Orion, Slack Water, Two Brothers, Venice, W. D. Bishop. 

1885. — Adam Jacobs, Geo. Kaplan, Josie W., Jim Wood, John Moren, Laura 
May, Mary Disston, T. P. Leathers, Vanguard, Venus, Voyager. 

1886. — Beaver, City of Chartiers, George R. Ford, Hudson, H. B, Sinclair^ 
Nellie Hudson. 

1887. — Butterore, Eugene, Geo. Wood, Ralph. 

1888.— Elizabethj^Harmony, 



BOAT BUILDING. 117 

Pittsburgh seems to be one of those locations predestined, if the expression 
may be allowed, for a ship-building centre. All the varieties of timber necessary 
is at her doors. The enterprise and skill of man has assembled all other materials 
for the complete construction of any vessel, from an armoured war-ship to a burden 
barge. Under the use of iron and steel, which has so largely obtained in ship- 
ibuilding in the past two decades, Pittsburgh has shown her ability. In the past 
ten years many steel boats have been constructed at Pittsburgh for foreign 
countries, and the industry bids fair to increase. As naturally as Pittsburgh be- 
came an iron centre because of her iron and fuel, so did it become a boat and ship- 
building point because of the materials there and the navigation. The skill of 
man is wonderful, and the forces of Nature are all powerful, so when at any given 
point the forces of Nature and the skill of man combine great results are a 
<X)nsequence. Pittsburgh is a result of natural advantages and accumulated skill. 

While the advent of the railroads increased the iron and steel developments 
at Pittsburgh, it to some extent diminished the building of steamboats. The skill 
and natural advantages are as great as ever. In the future developments that 
miist be of the water highways of the country, the natural and skilled advantages 
of Pittsburgh will reassert their force and make her a great steamboat and ship 
<;onstruction point, not only of wood, but largely of iron and steel. Iron boats 
Pittsburgh has been building since 1839. 

The first boat built of iron that navigated the western waters was the " Valley 
Forge," built in 1839, by Wm. C. Kobinson, Benjamin Minis and Eeuben Miller, 
Jr., then proprietors of the Washington Iron Works, now carried on under the 
style of Robinson, Eea Manufacturing Co. 

The hull of the "Valley Forge" measured on deck 180 feet. The breadth of 
beam was 29 feet, and depth of hold 5} feet. Across her deck and guards, at their 
widest point, the breadth was 49 J feet. The frame of the boat was of angle iron, 
the bottom and deck beams T iron, and the outside one-fourth of an inch Juniata 
boiler plate. The boiler or first deck was all plate iron. The floor and hull 
plates were of plain smooth surface, the sheets being closely jointed at the butts. 
The sides were clinker lap. The keel, which was five-eighths of an inch iron, was 
laid in the summer of 1838, and the vessel was launched in the summer of 1839, 
and left the same fall on her first trip to New Orleans. There was one iron bulk 
head the entire length, divided into eight water tight sections. Her tonnage was 
about four hundred tons, and her cost $60,000. She ran from Pittsburgh to New 
Orleans, St. Louis and Nashville, and ascended the Cumberland river as high as 
^'Rome," Georgia. She continued to run until 1845, although once sunk by 
running upon a snag, but was raised and repaired. In the spring of 1845, being 
unable to compete with boats built under improved plans with greater carrying 
capacity, she was dismantled, and the hull was cut apart and sold to iron manu- 
facturers, and made into various descriptions of merchant iron. The last trip of 
the "Valley Forge" was in July, 1845, from Pittsburgh to McKeesport, with a 
large picnic party. 



118 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Th^re has been built at Pittsburgh, in all, some fifteen or eighteen iron boatSy 
of which nine were war vessels. Two of these were constructed at the Fort Pitfe 
Foundry works, famous for its manufacture of Columbaids. These two were built 
in 1845, They were each 210 feet keel, 21 feet beam, 17 feet depth of hold, and 
constructed of iron, varying from one-half to three-sixteenths of an inch in thick- 
ness. One of these, the "Jefferson," was constructed at Pittsburgh, taken apart 
and transported to Oswego, and there put together again and launched. She was 
perfectly satisfactory in all respects, and cost $180,000, and is still in service. The 
other was called the "George M. Bibb," after the then Secretary of the Navy. 
The "Bibb" was launched at Pittsburgh, and went down the Ohio and the Missis- 
sippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Her cost was $250,000, and she is still in service. 
These two were two years in building. The iron revenue cutter "Michigan," now 
in service on the lakes, was also built at Pittsburgh, being set up complete on the 
lot at the junction of First and Liberty avenues, now occupied by the First Ward 
Public School. She was then taken to pieces and transported to the lakes, and 
there put together and launched. The iron for her construction was furnished 
from the famous Sligo Mills, of Lyon, Shorb & Co., from their best Juniata 
blooms, and 350| tons of this celebrated brand of iron was used in the construction. 
of the vessel. In 1863 two other vessels were built on the ground adjoining the 
Sligo Mills, of iron furnished from these works. One, the " Manayunk," was a 
turret ship, armed with two fifteen inch guns. Her length was 224 feet, beam 43^ 
feet 3 inches, depth of hold 12 feet, draught of water 12 feet, and the inside 
diameter of her turret 21 feet. This vessel was pronounced by good naval author- 
ity as a most admirable boat; in all respects safe to sail in around the world,. 
The other, called the "Umpqua," was a lighter draught, intended for river service^ 
but also a turret vessel, or monitor, as they were popularly called during the war.. 
Her length was 225 feet, with 45 feet beam, 7 feet 10 inches hold, and drew 6 feet 
6 inches water. The height of her turret was 9 feet, and its inside diameter 20 
feet. She was armed with one eleven inch gun and one one hundred and fifty^ 
pounder Parrot rifle gun. There was used in the construction of the " Mana- 
yunk" 1,247^ tons of iron, and in that of the "Umpqua" 813 tons. The plates 
for the turrets of these vessels were inch plates ten times repeated. The iron of 
the skins or hulls was from three-fourths to one-half inch in thickness. Both these 
vessels went to sea by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Two other war 
vessels for the United States navy were also constructed at Pittsburgh about 1845. 
One was a small revenue cutter called the "Hunter," and the other a second-class 
frigate called the "Allegheny," both of which went down the Ohio to the ocean^ 
and are still in service. In 1864-5 there was also built for the government, of 
iron, the " Marietta" and the "Sandusky," In addition to these, several boats for 
the peaceful uses of commerce have been constructed at Pittsburgh, of iroBt 
furnished by her iron mills. 

As previously observed, the building of steel boats has been one of the itema 
of the progress that has been made at Pittsburgh in the past decade. 



BOAT BUILDING. 119 

To James Rees & Sons, of Pittsburgh, belong the honor of constructing the 
first steel plate steamboat constructed in the United States; to Hussey, Howe &Co. 
that of furnishing the steel plates and other steel entering into its construction, 
and to Pittsburgh mechanics the credit of the work — a noteworthy honor for 
Pittsburgh enterprise and skill. It is also worthy of note that a company in a 
foreign country gave the contract to a city of a strong protective tariff nation as in 
competition with experienced builders of free trade advocating people. It would 
seem that good wages to workmen, as a result of protection, was far from weaken- 
ing ability to enter other than home markets with the product of their labor, but 
rather to the reverse. 

This vessel was the Francesco Montoya, and built in 1878 for the Magdalena 
Steam Navigation Company, of South America. 

The boat was 150 feet long, 30 feet beam, and 3 feet hold. The construction of 
the boat was with angle iron ribs, 18 inches apart, and angle iron deck beams and 
steel plated hull. She was constructed with nineteen water-tight compartments! 

While the boat was constructing, the parties for whom it was being built were 
constantly protesting against the use of steel instead of iron, alleging that she 
would be liable to snap and break in two when landing hard, or if striking a rock 
or bar. With an unflinching confidence in Pittsburgh steel and the work of the 
firm furnishing the plates, the buildei'S guaranteed the result. Their faith in Pitts- 
burgh work was fully sustained in several instances of the accidents feared. In 
the rapids of the Magdalena river during a freshet, while the boat was going down 
stream, the engine and rudder had no control of the movements of the vessel, and 
she was thrown upon some rocks while running at the rate of thirty miles an hour, 
as the captain and engineers reported to the owners. The shock broke nineteen of 
the iron ribs and bent some of the steel plates from six to eight inches, but there 
was not a hole punctured and but little leakage. 

There was also built for the same company, in 1879, the Victoria, 157 feet long, 
33 J feet beam, 4^ feet hold ; also the Roberto Calisto, 110 feet long, 22 feet beam, 
3 feet hold ; also, steamer Comuta, 130 feet long, 30 feet beam, and 3 feet hold. 

These boats were all erected here, then taken apart and shipped to their des- 
tination in pieces, a couple of skilled men being sent to superintend the construc- 
tion of the boats on the Magdalena river, employing the native labor in the work. 
That Pittsburgh shops pack nails in kegs, steel and bar iron in bundles, and ship 
to distant ports ; tumblers and other glass ware in boxes to Europe, reflectors and 
electric light apparatus to Japan, and a score of other descriptions of her manufac- 
tures to many foreign parts, is of so constant occurrence as to have lost novelty. 
That a whole steel steamboat should, however, be packed like so much tin plate and 
thus delivered to the purchasers is a matter of singular interest. Verily great is 
Pittsburgh and skillful her workmen. In 1880 was built the steamer Venezula, 
constructed entirely of steel,^ being the first in which steel was used in place of 
angle iron. Since then has been constructed the steamer Columbia and steamer 
America, of the same dimensions as the Venezula; also, in 1881, the steamer 



120 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Irura, 112 feet long, 22foot beam, and 3-foot liold, to run on the San Juan river, 
Nicaragua. 

The fame of the "stern- wheelers" of Pittsburgh attracted attention also in 
Russia, and from the shops of Pittsburgh ship-yards went the drafts and specifica- 
tions and the mechanics that inaugurated upon the " Volga " and the " Dneiper " 
and other rivers of Russia the building of those stern-wheel steamboats which now 
navigate those and other streams in that empire. 

In the course of these pages has been frequently noted the dominating force of 
the city in its industrial character. Possessing the largest chimney factory in the 
world, a table ware factory of the greatest capacity in the world, the largest cruci- 
ble steel plant, the most extensive Bessemer plant, the greatest cofiee house in the 
world, the greatest flour house, producing over one-eighth of all the pig iron of 
the United States, nearly three-fourths of all the coke, two thirds of all the glass 
ware, and two-thirds of all the crucible steel, Pittsburgh is truly a city to be proud 
of, and in this record of boat building it is beyond all question the greatest steel 
and iron boat building point in the United States, and her boat builders are shown 
as aiding in the building up by their skill the internal transportations of two 
great empires. Yet it seems but an ordinary industrial community to the average 
Pittsburgher instead of a city to be proud of. So much a matter of every day 
routine are the products of their great factories and their working. 

In closing this condensed sketch of Allegheny county's history in boat building, 
a few sentences are proper, to point out the admirable location there is at Pitts- 
burgh, or in its vicinity, for a national naval construction arsenal. 

Where could there be so desirable a point as Pittsburgh ? The iron, the steel, 
the woods are there ; the foundries for the casting of guns ; the mills for armor 
plates of any thickness or test; the hemp of Kentucky, for tlie cordage; copper 
and brass for all purposes, as well, and a reserve of skillful mechanics in all de- 
partments of work at all times available. Built, armored and fitted out in every 
particular in security from attack the ships could decend in safety to the Gulf for 
such services as the hour required. 

In the vessels of war mentioned as constructed, lier power in that respect was 
fully tested, while the ease with which those ships decended the rivers to the 
ocean, or were transported in sections and put together at other points, makes its 
own argument as to facility. No expensive governmental works were in any of 
the instances required to be built before proceeding with the work. The mills 
and machine shops in daily use turned out the material as required, and the me- 
chanics of the city found themselves perfectly competent to fashion the hulls and 
complete the ships. When this facility in the matter of iron vessels is shown ; 
ability in wooden ones, tested for years, when the security of the position is con- 
sidered, and the facilities of sending vessel after vessel, of almost any draught, to 
the ocean, apparent from actual tests, — and the great supply of all materials, 
whether of woods or metals, or fabrics, manifest, there seems much reason why 
government should find it desirable to locate here a naval construction vard. 



r 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 121 

The day for the full use of the Ohio and our other western rivers has not yet fully 
dawned. When it does the great facilities Pittsburgh possesses of materials and 
skilled workmen will keep her in the front, as heretofore, as a great ship yard. 

The construction of boats at Pittsburgh has, of course, not been in the imme- 
diate purlieus of the city, but at the various ship yards in the vicinage, although 
all the iron ships from 1839 to the present date have been constructed at the im- 
mediate wharves of the city. 

The tonnage of the city of Pittsburgh at the present time is 1,359,972 tons, 
being the Custom House measurement of 3,200 steam, passenger, tow and other 
vessels of various kinds used in the boating business of the city. 

In this it must not be understood that all the tonnage of the port of Pittsburgh 
is included. At the Pittsburgh Custom House only the steamboats are registered. 
The great barge and coal boat tonnage is not included. This in itself is very large. 
If, as at the port of New York, all description of craft were registered, it is a fact 
that the tonnage of boats using the river, at Pittsburgh, is greater than that of the 
city of New York, the greatest commercial point of the United States. 

There has been over 3,000 steamboats and ships constructed at Pittsburgh and 
vicinage within the dates given in the preceding pages. The entire steamboat ton- 
nage that has been built at Pittsburgh and vicinity, since 1811 until 1888, is about 
1,000,000 tons; and the value of the vessels so constructed, as near as can be esti- 
mated, is about $50,000,000. 

In this, as before said, is not included the barges, many of which carry from 
three to five hundred tons; nor the coal boats of equal capacity, the number of 
which, from the reason before given that they are not registered, cannot be ar- 
rived at, and consequently neither can their aggregate tonnage. If it could it 
would probably more than double the aggregate tonnage as given in the preced- 
ing paragraph. 



CHAPTEIi X. 
Coal and Coke Trade 



A historical sketch of the coal trade of Allegheny County necessarily centers, 
in its facts and statistics, in and around Pittsburgh, as it is the point of departure 
of all the coal transported by river, and much of that by rail. The business offices 
of nearly all the firms engaged in running or shipping coal are in Pittsburgh, and 
their transactions made and concluded there. A large proportion of the coal is, 
however, mined in the adjacent parts of Washington and Westmoreland counties, 
although in the townships, lying along the Monongahela river and Pennsylvania 
Kailroad, large tonnage of coal is taken out. The handling of and use of coal at or 
in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, ante-dates any of what are now the standard products 



122 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

of Allegheny CoHnty, and its possible fntnre benefits attracted attention even be- 
fore the building of l^'ort Pitt. Colonel J>nrd, in his journal, while constructing 
the road to old Redstone Kort, now Brownsville, mentions it; and Washington, in 
1770, while stopping at Kraziers, on the Youghiogheny, makes mention of having 
examined (toal taken from the opening of a vein on Frazier's grounds. There is 
nothing remarkable in this, however, as, of course, coal as a mineral was no novel- 
ty to either of the persons quoted. Ft is only quoted as probably the first mention 
of the substance west of the Alleghcnies, which has become the leading export of 
Allegheny (bounty's products, and through which the cities and towns of the Ohio 
and lower Mississippi valleys obtain their fuel for household and manufacturing 
purf)oses, and the cities their gas for lighting. (Jould Cohmel liurd or George 
Washington, when they examiuod the s|)ecimens they mention, have been told 
that the coal trade of Pittsburgh and vicinity could have reached its present 
enormous magnitude, they would have considered it not only a "Munchausen," 
but one of the more visionary of such fables. But while every day occurrences 
prove that truth is stranger than fiction, so has the wonderful growth of the United 
States far outstripj)ed what the wildest imagination could have voiced a hundred 
years ago. The writer remembers with triumphant pleasure how, when a mere 
youth, (ifty years ago, being joked and laughed at by a circle of business men 
gathered 'round an old-fashioned blazing coal fire, because he ventured the asser- 
tion that in less than twenty-five years the coal fields to the east of the city, then 
to be had from five to ten dollars per acre, would be worth their hundred, and the 
coal be taken out by shafts where it could not be otherwise reached. Most of those 
who laughed at it as a youth's fancy lived to see it verified. It is not necessary 
now to venture prcdicti(m of the future coal trade of Allegheny County; its past 
progress and the increasing population of the Ohio and Mississippi foretell what 
its magnitude will be. 

Of its early use at Fort Duquesne there is no record, but some legends state 
that the French troops dug and used some from the hill opposite the fort. This 
possibly may have been so, but in the abundance of timber and the ease with 
whi(;h it was obtained, it is not probable that the trouble of mining coal would 
betaken. In the earlier days of Fort [*itt there are also some traces of its use, 
but wood was still abundant, and in the cleanliness and poetic beauty and senti- 
ment that accomj)auied a "roaring wood fire," the use of coal, with its smoke and 
soot, did not likely find much favor. 

The first record of actual coal mining is in the grant from the "Penns," in 
]784, to mine coal from the hill immediately opposite the fort, "as far as the per- 
pendicular falling of the hill," for thirty pounds a lot. According to an old tra- 
dition this coal was tied up in raw hides and rolled down the hill. It is also re- 
corded that Shiras' brewery, at the point, was supplied in 1795 with coal by a Mr. 
Mossman, from a j)it now in the 'J'hirteenth ward of the city of Pittsburgh, form- 
erly called Minersville from the settlement of coal miners there. 

A Lieut. Uobbins, who settled at a point now called Kobbins Station, on the 
Pnllimore and Ohio Kailroad, in 1790, opened up a coal pit in that year there, 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 123: 

and began using tlie coal for smelting and domestic purposes. In 1797, when 
General O'llara and Major Craig established their glass factory at Pittsburgh, it 
is of record tliat Mr. Eichbaum was taken to a point on the side of the hill oppo- 
site the town to make an examination of the coal there, to see if it would do for 
use in the glass furnace. Tliese facts, although not new in the history of coal, are 
mentioned as the genesis of the use of coal at Pittsburgh that the reader may, if 
he chooses, bridge in his mind the contrast between tiien and now, in the exposition 
made on the present magnitude of the coal and coke industries of Allegheny 
County. 

It was wben the shipment of coal down the Ohio river commenced that the 
dawn of the Pittsburgh coal trade really began. This was in 1817, and by Thomas 
Jones. Fourteen years previous to that, however, a shipment of coal had been 
made to Philadelphia, by way of the Ohio river, on the ship Louisiana in 1803. 
The ship being ballasted with coal, which was sold on the ship's arrival at Phila- 
delphia for 37^ cents ^er busliel, or $10.50 a ton. The price "Pilot Tom Jones," 
as he was called, obtained for his coal at Maysville, Kentucky, the point to 
which he first boated coal, is not of record. 

About the same time Louis Sweeny engaged in floating coal down river. The 
whole transaction, from the mining to the transportation to its down river market,, 
was a very crude process in comparison with the methods by which now the great 
bulks of coal are handled. The pit from which Jones obtained his coal was near 
what was known as " O'llara burning pit," which was on the hill opposite the 
mouth of Penn avenue, about two-thirds the height of the hill. 

Mr. Jones mined his coal in winter, bringing it down the hill on sleds and 
piling it on the river bank, until the early spring, wlien it was loaded on what 
were called " French Creeks," being flat bottoms of heavy timber, about twenty 
feet wide and eighty long, sided up to the height of six or seven feet. These, 
when loaded, were moved by the current of the river at its flood period, and 
guided by long sweeps or oars by a crew of five to eight men. 

This primitive method of transportation gradually grew in scope as the num- 
ber of persons engaging in the business increased. In many respects it was specu- 
lative in its character, as the profitable result depended largely upon the success 
that attended the boatmen in bringing their cumbersome "coal boats" safely to 
their destination. The hazards were great and the losses frequent, from the sink- 
ing, from various causes, of the frail crafts burdened with such heavy cargoes. 
The business of "mining coal," as it was at that time called, continued to increase, 
and from a few individuals pursuing it, a number of firms with ami)le capital made 
it their sole business, and the spring and fall rise of the Ohio became important 
events in the commerce of Allegheny County. These periods were the principal 
times in which coal was run, although small "runs" were made when some sudden 
freshet in the summer gave sufficient water. 

The departure of these coal (loats were the occasions of great activity and 
interest, as they fre(iuently required from their size, from three to four hundred 



5.24 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Tuen to manage them, the boats being lashed in pairs, and as many as thirty to 
iifty pairs leaving the wharves of Pittsburgh on a fall or spring rise. Each pair 
Tequiring from eight to ten men to handle the sweeps. The "coal boat men" 
were recognized as a special class of population, a sort of Mike Finks, quite as 
reckless, and as much disposed to joviality. The " trips," as they were called, 
were looked upon by the crews as a combination of hard work, adventure and 
frolic, and when returning, either afoot, as they did sometimes, or as deck passen- 
gers on the steamboats, they were apt at all times to be rather riotously disposed. 
The novelty and spirit of adventure to be found in a coal boat frequently induced 
young men of the better classes of society to engage as one of the crew, and to- 
day there are to be found among the staid, sober, elderly citizens of the county, 
business men who recall with a pleasurable recollection their "coal boat trip." 

The system of transporting coal to the lower markets continued until 1845, 
when Daniel Bushnell, who is still living, began as an experiment the towing of coal 
with a small stern wheel steamboat called the Walter Forward. This boat con- 
tinued to be used for that purpose until the year before the outbreak of the civil 
war, when she was sunk in the Tradewater river, Ky., having come into possession 
of a firm mining coal on that stream. 

The Walter Forward's first trip was to Cincinnati with three small barges 
loaded with 2,000 bushels each of coal. In the same year Judge Thomas H. Baird 
began towing coal to Hanging Eock, Ohio, with a side wheel boat called the Har- 
lem and two "model barges," bringing back pig metal as a return cargo. In 1849 
Hugh Smith began to tow coal to the lower markets with the steamboat Lake 
Erie. In 1849, Daniel Bushnell, the originator of this system of coal transporta- 
tion, built the Black Diamond to tow coal to Cincinnati, and extended the carry- 
ing by this method to New Orleans, from which date the towing of coal superceded 
entirely the old floating system. This system of coal transportation now so en- 
tirely made use of on all the rivers, is so fully described and the details so fully 
«et forth in a volume entitled, " Pittsburgh's Progress, Industries and Resources," 
that it is here quoted as the best exposition of this part of the coal trade of Alle- 
gheny county : 

" The proposition to tow the unwieldly ' French creeks ' was received by the 
^ coal boatmen ' with ridicule. The term 'crank' had not then been coined, but 
those who talked of towing coal as a feasible thing were at that day spoken of as 
such under a more derisive name, and conversative business men shook their heads 
wisely and smiled dubiously. As the coal boats had to be floated to market on 
flood waters it did to those acquainted with the rapid currents of the Ohio in the 
spring and fall rises and June freshets seem a dangerous business to attempt to low 
those huge unwieldy bulks of coal in flat-bottomed, box-shaped boats through the 
crooked channels and sharp bends of the river. 

"The term towing is a misnomer, as the boats and barges containing the coal 
are propelled instead of towed. Although this is an old story to Pittsburghers 
and many along the river, yet to others it may not be uninteresting to be told that 
a tow, as it is called, is made up of one towboat and from ten to fourteen barges, 
coal boats or flats, and from one to four fuel boats filled with slack coal for boiler 
fuel during the trip. These boats are all placed in front of the towboat, except 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 12r> 

one on each side of the steamer, all securely lashed together, forming a compa* t 
mass about 350 feet long and 150 feet wide, and holding from 500,000 to 700,000 
bushels, or about an average of 24,000 tons, being the yield of from five to seven 
acres of coal land according to the size of the ' tow ' so called. Of such ' tows' from 
eight to ten in a day in the coal boating stages of the Ohio leave the harbor of 
Pittsburgh for all points below as far as New Orleans, and there are now from 90 
to 100 towboats, varying in cost from $8,000 to |30,000, employed in thus propel- 
ling coal, being the outgrowth in forty years from the little 'Walter Forward' 
with her three flat boats holding 6,000 bushels or 240 tons of coal. 

" As explanatory to those who are not ' to the manor born ' of the terms of 
' barge,' ' coal boat ' and ' flat,' being the ' packages,' as the trade term is, in which 
the coal is carried, a word or two of description of these * packages' may be of in- 
terest. Coal boats are built 170 feet long by 26 feet wide, of li-inch planks with 
about 18 inches rake at each end. They carry 24,000 bushels and draw seven feet 
when loaded. They are only used to convey the coal to its point of destination 
and go with the coal in the sale. They cost about $600 each. A barge is 130 feet 
long by 25 feet wide, constructed somewhat similar to the hull of a steamboat, but 
with stern and prow alike having bottom planking of 3-inch thickness and gun- 
wales 6 inches. The loading capacity of barges is about 13,000 bushels and they 
draw six feet water when loaded. They cost from $1,000 to $1,100, and last from 
nine to ten years, being towed back from the point where the coal is sold, going by 
the techanical term of 'empties' on the return trip. Fuel boats are similar to 
barges, only smaller, being 95x20 feet, and draw four feet water loaded. They 
cost $600 and will last ten years in service, and carry 7,000 bushels. Flats are 
90x16 feet, built same as barges, carry 4,000 bushels and draw, loaded, 4^ feet 
water, costing about $400. 

" A tow of coal made up of these various descriptions of boats to the number as 
before stated, of eighteen barges, coal boats and flats, with the tow boat, and loaded 
with the average of 600,000 bushels or 24,000 tons coal, represents a value of 
about $80,000 as it leaves the harbor of Pittsburgh. As before stated eight or ten 
of such massive islands, as it were, of coal, equal in surface to one and a quarter 
acres, and floating the coal product of from six to seven acres of coal land, depart 
in the boating stages of the Ohio from Pittsburgh. The driving, for such it al- 
most seems to be, in its handling by the deft pilot who with sinewy arms whirls 
and rewhirls the wheels tliat guides the boat and this mass of coal, is a task to 
which only those brought up to the trade are competent. Skill, judgment, nerve,, 
are all called into play as this ponderous bulk, borne along on a river at flood 
height, running at a current of eight to ten miles an hour, sweeps onv/ard. 
Through narrow channels, round sharp bends, between the stone piers of bridges,, 
where a missturn of the wheel, a failure of judgment, a miscalculation of distance 
means disaster and wreck, the pilot guides the tow, now backing, now flanking, 
now pushing now floating, watchful and cool the pilot does his work. There is 
probably no such boatmansliip shown anywhere else in the world as is displaj'ed 
by the Pittsburgh coalboat pilot. It is a wonderful exhibit of skillful navigation,, 
the thus handling by the nerve grip of one man on a wheel a bulk of 30,000 tons, 
moving at a speed of from twelve to fifteen miles an hour down such a tortuous- 
stream as the Ohio ,and with perhaps not five feet to spare of channel width or- 
two feet of water depth." 

The dangers of this perilous business is yearly increasing, from the multiplica- 
tion of bridges across the Ohio, and the impediments to safe running caused by 
their piers, which are often placed with more regard to the interest of the bridge- 
owners than the requirements in Ohio river navigation. 



326 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

In the earlier days of the river coal trade in Allegheny county, while but 
little capital beside the ownership of the coal tract was required to load and float 
three or four pairs of boats to market, it was, as before observed, more of a specu- 
lative business. While there were two or three firms who systematically pursued 
it, there were others who occasionally loaded two or three pairs of boats as an 
adventure, and despatched them to a market under the supercargoship of a 
partner in the venture, or some trusted clerk. Many of these floats were loaded 
for their owners at collieries by parties whose chief business was to load boats for 
others, who simply bought the coal and sold it at the first down river market to 
be found. With the increasing of the practice of towing, the business rapidly 
assumed its present system, in which is embraced not only the ownership of large 
bodies of coal, but the establishment of perfectly ordered collieries, with their 
little villages of miners' houses, ship yards for the completion and repairing of 
boats, a number of towboats, and a corps of pilots, engineers, captains and other 
business employees, under yearly contracts and salaries, with depots at the larger 
cities on the Ohio and Mississippi, necessitating the use of large cash capitals, and 
consequently the formation of firms with large pecuniary resources. The business 
of running coal by river is a hazardous trade, and to attempt to follow genealog- 
ically, as in this volume is done in some of the other industries, the firms engaged 
in the past in its transactions, would be too intricate and prolix, for the financial 
wrecks lie thickly strewn, the liquidations, assignments so numerous, that it has 
been clearly a survival of the fittest, or in other words, those whose capital could 
withstand the "bad seasons." 

No busincvss is without its thorns, but the coal trade is far from a bed of roses. 
What, with frequent strikes of the miners, seasons of low water, unremunerative 
prices in overcrowded down river markets, sinking of boats from collision with 
bridge piers, and other causes, the "Coal Barons," as they have come to be termed, 
often find themselves considerably barren, raising a doubt whether the title was 
given in honor or sarcasm. 

The " runs " made yearly of coal by river is, to some extent, governed by the 
"river rises," or freshets, it requiring from eight to ten feet of water for the fleets 
to float on. From two to four of such stages of water are general in a year, 
although there have been exceptionable years where there have been but one or 
two. The coal thus taken to market comes almost entirely out of the coal lands 
bordering the four pools of the Monongahela Navigation Company slackwater. 
While the detailed statistics of the "runs" made each year might be interesting 
to some, yet to the general reader the comparative increase by decades are suffi- 
cient to show the increase of the industry and its present magnitude. In 1845 it 
was 4,605,185 bushels, or 187,207 tons; in 1855 it was 22,234,000 bushels, or 
889,360 tons, or an increase of 500 per cent, in ten years. In 1865 it was 
39,584,697 bushels, or 1,583,286 tons, or an increase over the shipments of 1855 of 
about 90 per cent., and over that of 1845 900 per cent. In 1875 it was 62,000,000 
bushels, or 2,400,000 tons, an increase on the immense shipments of 1865 of about 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 127 

60 per cent., or an increase in thirty years of over 57,000,000 bushels, or 2,200,000 
tons. In 1885 the shipments were about 105,000,000 bushels, or 4,200,000 tons, 
being nearly double that of 1875, and an increase in forty years in the annual 
shipments of 100,000,000 bushels, or over 4,000,000 tons a year. In that forty 
years, as nearly as can be obtained, there has been shipped by river from Pitts- 
burgh 1,035,000,000 bushels of coal, or about 67,000,000 tons, or about 17,000 
acres, for the mining of which, including diggers, tools, hands and other mining 
expense, over $58,000,000 of wages were paid. This does not include the wear 
and tear of the ninety to one hundred towboats engaged in the transportation, 
the wages and maintenance of their crews through the year. The tolls alone 
paid the Monongahela Navigation Company in that time were over $2,500,000. 
The aggregate yearly shipment at the present time is about 110,000,000 bushels, 
or 4,400,000 tons. The wages paid the 8,700 hands they employ for mining labor 
alone is about $4,000,000 a year, and the tolls to the Navigation Company $264,000 

When to this is added the expenses of the towboats and their maintenance, the 
losses from the sinking of the boats, and all the incidental expenses of the busi- 
ness, insurance on steam towboats, their repairs, it cannot be claimed that the coal 
business is one of great profit, although the sums received from sales look formid- 
able in the aggregate; for it should be remembered that if the "Coal Barons" 
put money in their bank account it is to some extent " robbing Peter to pay Paul," 
as every bushel of coal is so much taken from their invested capital in the coal 
lands. It is, however, enriching the county of Allegheny by the distribution of 
large sums for wages and other expenses, which would not be did the coal lay 
undisturbed in the hills. 

With the extension of railroads and the competition for freight arising, the 
coal lands lying along the routes of the roads began to be developed, and large 
colleries began to be opened in an area from ten to twenty miles east and west of 
Pittsburgh The coal from these is transported to Pittsburgh and eastern and 
western cities for the various purposes for which the coal of the Pittsburgh seam 
is particularly adapted, especially in the making of gas, for which it stands un- 
rivaled. Of these colleries there are sixty whose business offices are all at Pitts- 
burgh. These works employ 9540 hands, to whom there is annually paid over 
$3,800,000 of wages, and they mine an average of 178,000,000 bushels or 7,120,000 
tons yearly. 

A number of these colleries own their own cars, but the transportation facili- 
ties, as a general thing, are furnished by the railroad corporations. Among the 
many drawbacks to the profitable mining of the coal industry is the expensive one 
of labor strikes. According to the report of the secretary of internal affairs of 
Pennsylvania for 1887, there have been from 1881 to 1886 eighty-one distinct 
strikes or on an average of thirteen a year, chiefly on a question of labor, of which 
thirty-nine were for an increase of wages, twenty-seven against a decrease, and 
eight for employment of check men. Of these there was one strike of two hun- 
dred and twelve days, one of one hundred and forty days, one of one hundred and 



128 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

fifty days, eleven from eighty to ninety-five days duration, four from seventy to 
eighty, twelve from sixty to seventy, two from fifty to sixty, eleven from forty to 
fifty, three from thirty to forty, fifteen from twenty to thirty. The whole aggre- 
gate number of days of the strikes is 3865 days, and an aggregate of 61,304 persona 
engaged in strikes, an average of forty-eight days to each strike. The strikes tak- 
ing place at about thirty different points, nineteen of them being general through 
out Pennsylvania. The total losses to employees were $3,487,501 ; to employer* 
$853 154. The strikers receiving assistance from labor organizations of about 

$40,000. 

The immediate bituminous coal field by which Pittsburgh is surrounded, and 
from whence the coal trade of Allegheny county is supplied is equal to 15,000 
square miles, and at a valuation of five cents per bushel or one dollar and twenty- 
five cents a ton, seventy-four millions of dollars a year could be realized from the 
coal there stored for a thousand years without exhausting the treasure. 

The introduction of natural gas would seem at first glance to threaten a de- 
cadence in the coal trade of Pittsburgh. It is not unlikely it will increase the 
consumption of coal. The use of gas as a manufacturing fuel has so many advant- 
ages, that where gas, whether natural or artificial, can be obtained, the works will 
not go back to coal fuel. The use of natural gas where it is found will ultimately 
necessitate the use of artificial gas by manufacturers where natural gas cannot be 
had, and to obtain it cheaply will be not only the endeavor, but the necessity. 
For the production of artificial gas the coal of the Pittsburgh seam is recognized 
as greatly superior to all others, the residuums of coal, being in themselves 
not only of large value, but also in demand. The obtaining of gas from coal for 
manufacturing fuel will obtain, where natural gas cannot be had, and by the returns 
from coke and other products, the cost of this gas fuel equalized with the natural 
gas. The extension of manufacturing in the United States will continue. While 
present developments give no assurance of extensions of natural gas territory, the 
eighteen thousand miles of river navigation that Allegheny county commands, 
gives guarantee that the gas in her coal can be carried where it is required at the 
cheapest possible transportation cost, and it is already a demonstrated fact that the 
gas can be extracted from the coal, and the remainders compensate or nearly so for 
the cost of coal and manufacturing. Under this view the possible future growth 
of the coal trade of Allegheny county is more possible than its decline, and also 
the increased values of its coal lands. 

This condense review of the coal trade of the county cannot more fittingly 

concluded than with the iollowing extract from Pittsburgh's Progress, Industries and 

Resources : 

"As is stated in the opening paragraph of fhis chapter, the bituminous coal 
field, by which Pittsburgh is surrounded, is estimated at 15,000 square miles, of 
which two-thirds are literally under the feet of Pittsburgh, or at least at her very 
door ; and upon which she has her miners working, her capital employed, over a 
scope of from 60 to 60 miles east, west and south of her streets. Coal trains run- 
ning, coal barges fioating, steam tugs towing. The approximate value of the mineral 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 129 

they are thus depleting is stated in the beginning of the chapter ; and it forces an 
exclamation of wonder on the mention of the fact that, a little over a hundred 
years ago, the Penns paid but ten thousand dollars for the whole tract. To the 
young boy one hundred years seem comparative eternity, to the septennarian as 
nothing, and there are men now active in the coal trade of Pittsburgh who have 
participated as man and boy in its activities for quite two-thirds of the years in 
which the coal field has increased from its ten thousand dollar cost to its present 
hardly comprehensible value. Pittsburgh has reason to be proud of her coal trade, 
hopeful of its future, and proud of the race of coal kings that its activities have 
developed. Hard-working, self-reliant men, the architects of their own fortunes, 
self-made men to whose energy and industry the coal trade of Pittsburgh owes its 
development, and they in their turn, to its growth, their fortunes. It is an ac- 
cepted saying that he who makes two blades of grass grow where there was but 
one is a benefactor to mankind ; and it may well be accepted that the men who 
furnishes labor for two men where there was but subsistence for one is equally a 
benefactor; and those who have built up by their perseverance the great industry 
of the coal trade of Pittsburgh, with its employment for thousands of men, de- 
serves to be so honored." 

Coke, 

As a manufactured form of coal, is properly embraced in the sketch of the coal 
trade of Allegheny county. Although like coal the substance is obtained to a 
great extent outside the bounds of the county, yet as the capital, management, 
and building up of the business is at Pittsburgh, it is intrinsically a division of the 
industries of the county, and a sub-division of its coal trade. 

The production of coke is mainly centered in the so called "Connellsville 
region." The peculiar character of the coal deposit there causing this. This coal 
bed is about fifty miles long and three miles wide, and a recent survey gives as the 
area of this coal yet unmined in this region at 70,000 acres. It is estimated that 
each acre will furnish about 5,000 tons of coke. On this basis the deposit will 
furnish 350,000,000 tons, which at the present rate of output will last two hundred 
years. The coke made from this deposit of coal is the recognized standard of the 
Untied States. This coal from which it is made is soft and porous and carries a 
very small per cent, of sulphur. It has a high percentage of carbon, great free- 
dom from impurities. The hardness of the coke made from it, by which it has 
large ability to bear heavy burdens in the furnace has, as being the best furnace 
fuel yet discovered, driven charcoal out of use in the furnaces. Although coke 
was made and used in the Allegheny furnace in Blair county in 1811, also by Coi, 
Isaac Meason in his Plumsock refinery in Fayette county, in 1817, and P. Hj 
Oliphant made, 1836, a fair amount of coke iron at his Fairchance furnace its use 
did not begin to assume a national importance until 1859, when the Clinton fur- 
nace, at Pittsburgh, of Graff, Bennett & Co. was run on coke fuel. The manufac- 
ture of coke under the oven system now in use did not begin until 1841. Previous 
to this the coke made by Meason and Oliphant was in open ricks on the ground. 
In the summer of 1841, William Turner, Jr., Provance McCormick, and John 
Campbell, employed James Taylor to erect two bee hive ovens on his farm on the 
Youghiogheny a few miles below Connellsville. After several failures a fair 
9 



130 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

quality of coke was produced in the winter of 1841-42, and by the spring of 
1842 enough had been made to load two boats with 800 bushels each. 

These boats were ninety feet long and built by McCormick and Campbell, both 
carpenters, and William Turner for pilot, were floated down the Youghiogheny, 
Monongahela and Ohio rivers to Cincinnati, where it was disposed of after some 
difficulty. 

About the same time several small plants were established by Mordecai Coch- 
ran, Eichard Brookins, and Col. A. M. Hill, who, in 1844, introduced an improved 
eoke oven. The progress of coke manufacture was slow, and up to 1876 the number 
of coke ovens was only about 3,500, and there was not over 3,000 employees of all 
descriptions employed in the Connellsville region in the manufacture of coke. 

The panic of 1872, which so greatly affected the iron business, necessarily 
reduced the consumption of coke to a minimum. With the revival of the iron 
trade in 1879 the demand for coke became enormous, and its price rapidly ad- 
vanced until it reached the rate of $5 per ton. Under this impetus many firms 
embarked in the business, and those who were previously engaged in it having 
realized large profits, the building of ovens was pushed so rapidly that by 1880 
there was 8,000 ovens in the Connellsville region. 

Under the " output " of this large increase of ovens the price rapidly declined 
until, in 1883, it had fallen off to 85 cents per ton, and all the coke sold at that 
price was, without doubt, below the cost of its production. Under this continued 
reduction in the price of coke it was but natural that the manufacturers of it 
should try to reduce the cost of the labor used in its production, and a small reduc- 
tion was made in January, 1880. In February, 1880, the miners and cokers struck 
for 40 cents per wagon and 90 cents per oven, being over 25 per cent, increase over 
the wages of 1879. The strike lasted but a few days when the strikers returned to 
work at the old prices. In June, 1881, when the price of coke was at an average 
of $1.50 a ton, the coke workers inaugurated another strike, demanding uniform 
wagons of thirty-three and a third bushels and one cent per bushel, and ten per 
cent, advance per oven for drawing. This was the first general strike in the coke 
region, and about 7,000 workmen were engaged in it. The demand for uniform 
wagons seems to be admitted on both sides, was just. The miners and cokers had, 
however, selected an inopportune time for their demands. The coke trade was 
dull and the operators indifferent about running their works. There was no vio- 
lence ofiered by the strikers, and after a listless lockout of four weeks the strikers 
went to work at the old terms. The same result was, however, consequent loss to 
both employers and employees. About three-fourths of the ovens were idle. The 
cost at that time for making coke was about $1.15 per ton, the selling price on the 
average, $1.50, which would make a loss to the operators, from non-production of 
about $50,000. The average daily wages of the workers was $1.48. The loss to 
the 7,000 men daring the twenty-five days strike was about $194,000, being alto- 
gether $240,000. To this should be added the loss to railroads and their employees 
which would swell the loss to $275,000, at the least. 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 131 

In 1882 there was a slight revival in the demand for coke, and a small expan 
'«ion in the area of the ovens took place, and plants were put up on the Young 
wood branch. Dull times came again in the spring of 1883, wages were reduced, 
^nd a number of plants shut down. This condition of affairs continued until the 
latter part of 1884. To effect some change in the current of trade, by restricting 
production so as to meet the sluggish demand, the operators began, in the fall of 
1883, an effort in that direction. It was not until March, 1884, that it took shape, 
and a coke pool, controlling 9,585 ovens, was formed. This syndicate acted as 
agent for the sale of the production of those ovens. The syndicate was not a rapid 
success, and although a fair control of production and prices were obtained, the 
trade continued but indifferent in its bulk and profits until the spring of 1885, 
when the iron trade of the country somewhat revived. 

A slight advance in prices was secured, and a better demand arose ; new ovens 
were built, and the output averaged nearly one thousand cars a day, and the price 
ranged from $1.20 to $1.40 per ton. With the brighter prospects came murmer- 
ings from the cokers, but the prospect of a strike did not seem imminent, as from 
the long period of restricted work and low wages they were not in a condition to 
sustain a lockout. The Huns, of whom there were many in the region, had not 
been saving money, and it was easy for a few dissatisfied men to persuade them 
that they were oppressed, and quietly a few designing men began their plotting 
for one of the most bitter strikes that ever occurred in Western Pennsylvania, and 
the Hungarians were made the positive force. The coke operators have, in the 
public opinion, been thought to have introduced this foreign element into the coke 
region, and thus been instrumental in bringing on themselves the disaster of the 
strike. This is an erroneous impression. The Hungarians came first into the 
coke districts in 1879, during the period of high prices and great demand for coke. 
Labor was scarce and the cokeries multiplying. An effort was necessary to obtain 
workmen]^in the other sections of the country, and a force of Poles and Germans 
were obtained in New York, among whom were some Hungarians. In Hungary 
the average wages per day is about sixty cents. 

The'_Hungarians who obtained work at the cokeries wrote home to their friends 
of the'large wages they were making at the coke ovens, and from that time the 
Hungarians began to come from their native land to the Connellsville region in 
numbers. While they are naturally inoffensive and respectful in their demeanor, 
and averse to strikes, from their great desire to save and accumulate money, yet, 
when once aroused, they are violent, and pay no regard to law or the rights of life 
and property. The coke districts had become filled with men and women of this 
nationality, who had obtained employment at the cokeries, for the women were 
workers at drawing coke and other divisions of the industry as well as the men. 
Their whole object being to save a thousand or so of dollars and return to Hun- 
gary, where that sum would enable them to become in a small way owners of a 
few acres of land, and thus being raised to the social standard of landed proprie- 
tors, be to a certain extent independent. It was from this class that the greatest 



132 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

violence was experienced in the strike, and with whom the designing agitators of 
other nationalities worked up the riot, and brought about its consequences. The 
first intimation the public had of the strike was an alleged meeting at Scottdale,. 
on Christmas, 1885. It appears since that it consisted of but two men, one of 
whom has since become a prominent labor agitator. At that time there was no 
idea, in the minds of the workers, of asking for an increase of wages, except in 
the thoughts of the two self-constituted delegates. 

A second meeting was more largely attended on New Years day. A call for a 
general convention of the workmen of the cokeries to be held at Scottdale on Sat- 
urday January 16th, 1886, was circulated. When the convention met on that day 
there were representatives from nearly every cokery. A demand was made 
for ten per cent, advance in wages. The Hungarians demanding ninety cents for 
one hundred bushels of coal. It is proper here to remark that the veins of coal 
are from seven to eleven feet thick, soft and easilly mined, and a large number of 
bushels can be mined in a day. On the same evening a telegram was sent to the 
syndicate, before mentioned, demanding an immediate reply. The cokers com- 
plained that they were bound by iron-clad leases, and had been robbed in the 
prices charged at the company's store, that their rents were too high, and that the 
rate of wages were as low as when coke was eighty -five cents a ton, although the 
price had been advanced to $1.20 and $1.40. 

As against this the operators claimed that they had for a long period conduct- 
ed their business without any profit, and for a considerable time at a loss, and that 
now if they were making some profit they could not afford to at once advance 
prices. That they had had no notice of the intention to strike, no chance to con- 
sider the subject, and the strikers were destroying their property and preventing 
those who wished to work from so doing. This latter claim was fully correct, as 
the Hungarians had inaugurated the strike two days before the convention held 
on January 16th, at Scottdale. On Monday the 18th the strike became general 
throughout the region. It was precipitated by the Huns, who had been urged up 
to it by the labor agitators, and it was principally a Hungarian strike. They be- 
gan to drive those from the cokeries who desired to work, and to destroy tools and 
other property. The officers who attempted to make arrests were attacked and 
their prisoners rescued. The sheriff" of Westmoreland county, finding himself un- 
able to cope with the rioters, obtained from Pittsburgh a large number of police- 
men and quartered them in the neighborhood of Mt. Pleasant. The Hungarians 
encouraged by their success and frenzied by "polinke " an alcoholic drink manu- 
factured by them, on Wednesday January the 20th, renewed their riot with great 
fury. A mob of some 400 men and women, armed with coke forks, knives, revolvers 
and clubs, marched from Mt. Pleasant to Stinerville, stopping at various points^ 
driving away the men at work, breaking down oven fronts and throwing tools and 
supplies into the burning ovens. Though some resistance was ofTered the mob 
swept on beating some of the bosses severely. In the afternoon returning elated 
with their success they were met at Morewood by the Sheriff's posse numbering 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 133 

sixty-five men, and an attempt being made to arrest some of the leaders a 
fight began, the mob consisting largely of Hungarian women. The Sheriff's posse 
made at length a final charge, and the strikers fled up the hill, making an occas- 
ional halt and firing on the officers. Fourteen prisoners were captured and taken 
to Greensburg. The same condition existed in the southern end of the coke dis- 
trict and a number of arrests were made by the sherifi" of Fayette county. On Wed- 
nesday the 28th of January, a great mass meeting of cokers, to the number of sev- 
eral thousand, assembled at Scottdale. In the meantime the Austro-Hungarian 
Consul at Pittsburgh had gone to the scene of the riot, to control, if possible, his 
countrymen, but unsuccessfully. He read to them a correspondence between him- 
self and the H. C. Frick Coke Company, looking to the settlement of the strikers' 
demands. In this he proposed that the operators should give assurances to restore 
the rate of wages prevailing before the last reduction, that they agree to accede to 
arbitration, and that Mr. Frick should personally visit the coke regions and confer 
with the Hungarian strikers. Mr. Frick replied, — " While they maintain this at- 
titude of hostility they could claim no relationship to us which deserves consider- 
ation. Let them peaceably leave our employment and deliver up our property, 
if dissatisfied, or resume work. If they choose the latter course it will then be 
time enough to treat with them for higher wages. If coke business improves, as 
we hope it will, in the near future the price will advance, and we will then as we 
3iave always said and intended, gladly share the benefit with our employees by 
advancing their wages." 

Although a number of persons of influence in the region addressed the mob 
and others of the strikers, no progress was made in quieting the cokers, and on 
February 8th, 1886, another convention was held by them at Scottdale. As a 
-delegation of three hundred and fifty strikers were passing the Henry Clay mine 
of the H. C. Frick Company, on their way to the convention, they attacked and 
drove away a number of men at work. One of the workmen, who had been 
terribly beaten a few days before, drew a revolver and fired on the strikers, shoot- 
ing one of the delegation. His companions became violently enraged, and the 
whole delegation rushed to the scene, threw car slats on the floor of the engine 
house, saturated the building with oil, and set fire to it. The entire engine house 
and tipple was soon in flames, and the mob passed on to the convention. They 
were not arrested, and were applauded when they related at the convention what 
they had done. Similar acts of violence had, to a greater or less degree, been 
committed throughout the strike, and the whole region was terrorized. The mob 
collected supplies for subsistence from the people of the surrounding country, who 
<iare not refuse. A veritable state of war prevailed, and the strikers were as an 
invading force living off" the country they held. On February 20th the operators 
held a meeting at Everson, and after a prolonged consideration of the condition 
•decided to advance the price of coke to $1.35 and grant the demands of their em- 
ployes. This news the strikers joyfully received, all except the Hungarians, who 
were not satisfied, and demanded the release of their countrymen who were under 



134 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

arrest. After a few days, however, the work was resumed at all the cokeries^ 
Thus terminated a serious outbreak of a completely foreign element of unnatural- 
ized population in the United States. With a language, habits of living and of 
thought, foreign in the extreme to those of the section of the country where they 
were employed, having but a vague knowledge of the laws and no understanding- 
of their spirit and effect, and a still cruder conception of what was meant by 
political liberty as exemplified under the Constitution of the United States; clanish' 
and working but for the ultimate end of a return to their native land, with what 
would there to them be a competency, the Hungarians were splendid material for 
labor agitators to work up into a mob, and it was done successfully. 

There was a disposition at the time in the public mind to think the coke opera- 
tors responsible for their own losses and trouble, inasmuch as it was the generally 
received opinion that they had imported the Hungarians with a view to cheaper 
labor. It was quite the reverse. This low grade of humanity had imported itself^ 
drawn hither by the reports written home by their countrymen of what to them 
were the fortunes to be in a short time realized from the high rate of wages to be- 
had in the United States. Work being plenty and the remuneration large in the^ 
coke region, they naturally flocked there, and were pliant material in the hands of 
badly disposed and unreflecting advocates of labor reforms. Under the agitations- 
and demands that are so general through the whole country in all classes of labor y, 
most serious considerations are being forced upon the minds of the public as to the' 
future regulations of emigration into the United States. It would seem to be 
foreign to the principle involved in the formation of the government to deny the^ 
people of any country the privilege of emigration to this; but it also seems that 
there should be some safeguard that will prevent the accumulation in the United 
States of masses of people of foreign birth, with no fixed idea of becoming citi- 
zens, mere swarms of locusts feeding upon the green things of the land, and to- 
take flight to pastures new when ready. There should be some qualification of" 
character, some qualification of education, some tangible evidence of intention io 
become permanent citizens, some knowledge of the constitution and the spirit of 
the government and its laws. Just how far the restriction should reach is a matter 
for discussion and study. The strike and riot of 1886 in the coke regions was most 
probably the result of the mass of the Hungarians that had congregated there^ 
with no intention of becoming Americanized, uneducated as to the government of 
the country, ignorant of the language, and in fact that great danger to a nation, a. 
people within a people. 

It has been computated that the loss to operators and the workers by this strike- 
was over $550,000, there being 10,000 workmen affected by it, although the Hun- 
garians and others especially active were not over 3,500 in number. The riotous- 
disposition having been quieted the region resumed its normal activity, and in 
April, 1886, the syndicate advanced the price of coke from $1.35 to $1.50 per ton,^. 
and an advancement of wages was voluntarily given the workmen. Trade con- 
tinued to improve and several small advances were made in wages. 



COAL AND COKE TRADE. 135 

On January 31st, 1887, the price of coke was advanced to $2.00 per ton. There 
had been a verbal understanding that wages were to be increased when the price 
of coke advanced, and the cokers expected this would be the case with the advance 
of coke to $2.00 per ton. It not being oiFered the agitation began again, the cokers 
demanding an advance of thirty-three and a third per cent., which they succes- 
sively reduced to twenty and then to twelve and a half per cent. This the opera- 
tors declining to give on the ground that there had already been four advances in 
the rate of wages since May, 1886, the matter was finally referred to a board of 
seven arbitrators, of whom John B. Jackson was umpire. Both sides laid their 
arguments before the board, and it was finally decided by the umpire that there 
should not be any further increase in wages until there was a further advancement 
in the price of coke. This decision, not meeting the views of the cokers, there 
was a general strike inaugurated on May 1st, 1887. All attempts at a settlement 
were, for a time, useless, until, when the strikers seemed about defeated, the H. C. 
Frick Company advanced the wages of their employees, because of some excep- 
tional causes within the business of that firm, twelve and one-half per cent. The 
other operators firmly refused to do this, and the cokers returned to their work at 
the rate previous to May 1st, 1887. Thus ended the last strike to that date, which 
it has been estimated caused a loss in wages to workmen and in business to the 
operators of about $800,000. 

For all these difficulties that have been stated of fluctuating prices and strikes, 
the manufacture of coke has grown to a great extent and is still increasing. It is 
but natural that it should, as it is a substance so essential in all the transformations 
of ores into metals; and the coke of the Connellsville region, from its superior 
qualities, finds an increasing demand with the growth of the iron making, and, in 
fact, of all smelting processes. 

There are at the present time about 13,000 coke ovens at the various cokeries 
in the coke regions of Western Pennsylvania, with a product, when working, of 
about 5,000,000 to 5,500,000 tons of coke, representing the consumption of over 
200,000,000 bushels of coal. 

The value of this product has been variable from various causes. Mr. Joseph 
D. Weeks, in his exhaustive and valuable report on coke in the Census Depart- 
ment, gives the average selling price of coke in Pennsylvania in 1880, at $1.81 per 
ton, although in July, 1879, it was selling at $1.15 to $1.20 per ton, but, advancing 
rapidly, sold in the early part of 1880 to $5.00 per ton. These fluctuations of 
values are results of demand and supply, and in 1885 coke was sold as low as $1.05 
per ton. Mr. Weeks says the cost of production, including all things, labor, ma- 
terials, etc., at the best arranged works in the Connellsville region, is $1.15 per 
ton; and says in his report: "The above calculation is, if anything, too low, as 
the investments in ovens, etc , is lost when the coal is all gone, and the cost of 
manufacturing will increase as the front coal is used up. This calculation is based 
on coal that will drain itself." 

The actual cost of making coke at the Cambria Iron Company's ovens, at Mor- 
rell and Wheeler, is given in Mr. Weeks' report at $1.49, on which he comments : 



136 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

" It will be noted that this estimate of cost of manufacturing coke is considerably 
in excess of the first given. These two estimates from two reliable manufac- 
turers are given for the purpose of showing how difficult it is to arrive at exact 
figures." 

In presenting this statement of the manufacture of coke as one of the indus- 
tries of Pittsburgh, the foregoing remark of an accomplished statistician can be 
applied as touching nearly all the details of this industrial division. The num- 
ber of employees who are under wages in the 77 cokeries in the Connellsville 
region, in all the various departments of labor therewith connected, is about 8,000, 
and, while no exact figures could be had, the wages disbursed may be stated at 
over 14,000,000. The ratio of the output of the ovens is, as elsewhere shown, of 
a fluctuating character, depending on supply, and chiefly on demand, which is 
governed by the condition of trade in all matters of the consumption of such arti- 
cles as result from the handling of pig iron. As an approximation, it may be 
said that the output of coke of the Conrellsville region runs, under the present 
production, from |5,000,000 to $7,000,000 a year, as regulated by the causes before 
stated. 

The summing up of the coal trade presents the facts that there are in all the 
divisions thereof, including the cokeries, which are practically collieries, as they 
mine the coal used from their own works, 204 collieries, which employ 27,680 
hands, whose wages amount to $11,150,000 ; that the value of the improvements, 
exclusive of the cost of the coal, is $12,600,000, and its sales value from $22,000,000 
to $25,000,000, according to the ruling market rates of the about 430,000,000 
bushels, or 17,200,000 tons, mined annually. 



CHAPTEE XI. 
Iron and Steel Trade. 



To sketch the history of iron and steel manufacturing in Allegheny county is 
to present a picture of all the lights and shades of manufacturing industries. It is 
to unroll the record of persistent combat with domestic and foreign foes of Ameri- 
can labor, and of triumphant success, when handicapped in the race with foreign 
manufacturers for home markets by adverse legislation. 

It is to exemplify that persistent energy and business courage before pointed 
out in the history of the county as characteristic of its people, and paint one of the 
victories of peace won by the industry, thrift and business ability of its manufac- 
turers. There is no industry of the nation whose continued success has been more 
dependant on protection than the manufacture of iron and steel, nor any that has 
suffered so severely when free trade legislative action prevailed. Therefrom the 
iron manufacturers of Allegheny county have received their share of wounds, and 
tlie records of the battles fought with the trade depressions thereby produced is one 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. ^ 137 

of ruined fortunes, bankrupt firms, — and among the working classes, of pecuniary 
distress, and at times dependant on soup houses for a daily meal. Theories are 
beautiful things, but practical tests of them prove their correctness or falsity. 
Nowhere more conclusively than in the history of Allegheny county, and in the 
records of the iron trade, has the correctness of protection and the falsity of free 
trade been so conclusively proven, and that the prosperity of the manufacturers is 
the field from which the masses reap their harvests. While here and there the 
records show that the employers have accumulated fortunes, it shows more who 
have lost them, but tells of thousands and thousands of workmen who have ac- 
quired homes, reared families in comfort, educated children to professions and the 
higher branches of the mechanical arts by the ample wages protection has enabled 
their employers to give. It tells of the agricultural lands of Allegheny county 
having acquired a value for the products for the table they never could have ob- 
tained as mere fields for the growing of corn and oats, and demonstrates how the 
growing up of a great population of workmen creates a profitable market for the 
farmer, at his door, for the yield of his field, that could not have existed were there 
not a great army of non-producers of agricultural products to be fed. 

Slowly, steadily and persistently the iron and steel manufacturers of Allegheny 
county have held their course through adverse days and antagonistic legislation. 
Broadly and energetically pushing their industries in favorable periods, they have 
gathered around them armies of well paid, skillful workers, until to-day Alle- 
gheny county and Pittsburgh are synonymous names with the iron and steel in the 
thoughts of men in the United States, Europe and even Asia. How Allegheny county 
has grown to this prominence, and the details of its progress to that point, can in 
these pages be but briefly told. Enough can be, however, related to show the 
position indicated in the preceding paragraph is justly held, that protection has 
been the great promoter thereof, and in Allegheny county demonstrated in the 
most practical manner how it not only developed the resources of the country, but 
provides the comforts of life for the working classes, and cheapens the products 
from iron ores to the consumers. While these pages, intended as an exhibit of 
Allegheny county's hundred years of existence, can spare no space for the dis- 
cussion of political economy theories, they are not inconsistent with the 
character of the volume, and the very record of its progress renders a verdict to 
those who read. Capital is so absolutely necessary to the existence and progress 
of manufactures that low cost of money is quite as great an advantage as low-priced 
labor. When Allegheny county's manufacturers first began, the labor of Europe 
was cheaper even than it is to-day, and its employers enjoyed an equal advantage 
in cheap money. To equalize these protection was a necessity, without which 
there was nothing that would enable the manufacturer to pay the price of labor 
in a new country, where its comparative scarcity enabled it to demand a higher 
compensation than in Europe, and the rarity of unemployed money endowed it 
with greater interest values. That is the whole story, and something to balance 
this in the contests for home markets was necessary, or the home markets must 



138 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

belong to the nation with the cheapest labor and the cheapest capital, else the 
working masses must be forced down in their compensation to the scale of the 
poorly paid European. Even then, unless interest rates for capital could be also 
forced down to European rates, there was no equalization. In new countries cap- 
ital, as history shows, money commands high rates of interest, and it is only by its 
accumulation that it becomes cheap. 

Its accumulation is the result of the development of the country's resources. 
To develop these the establishment of manufactories, as all records show, is the 
greatest factor, for history demonstrates that it is the manufacturing nations that 
grow wealthy and acquire a superabundance of capital, while agricultural nations 
remain poor. These are but trite observations, but they are, nevertheless, great 
truths. Without a development of its manufacturing resources the United States 
must have remained but an agricultural nation, with the consequent depressed 
condition of its population that the low wages agricultural labor yields enforces. 
The spirit of its form of government, which was for the elevation of the masses? 
negative such a condition of labor as would prevent that. 

Manufacturing became a necessity to avoid it, and protection a necessity to the 
establishment of manufactures where, from the nation's condition of labor and 
capital before stated, there could be no equality in those respects with competing 
countries. To that protection the creation of manufacturing in Allegheny county 
is due. It is, therefore, beyond question that it must continue the champion of 
protection, as it has always been, and equally beyond question that without pro- 
tection the furnaces, forges, foundries and all their correlative industries and iron 
mills of which its population is so justly proud, would not have existed unless 
perhaps, in some insignificant or impoverished coudition. That is the lesson that 
is taught in the subsequent paragraphs that trace the progress during Allegheny 
County's Hundred Years of its iron and steel trade. 

It was in 1792 that it may be said that the first marked step toward manufa<3- 
turing progress was made in the county. Previous to that minor manufactories 
existed, or more strictly, workshops, where some of the cruder articles needed in 
the households of a new country were made. Although they were, in one sense^ 
manufactures, yet not in the general acceptation of the word. In 1792, however,, 
the first manufactory, in a more general sense, was established, and in the very 
direction in which the county has continued to grow. In this year George 
Anshutz began the erection of a blast furnace for the making of pig iron,' as before 
mentioned in the general history, at a point about three miles east of Fort Pitt. 
Mr. Anshutz was born near Strasburg, Alsace, France, November 27th, 1753. In 
1789 he emigrated to the United States, and soon afterwards located in the suburbs 
of Pittsburgh, where he built the furnace above mentioned, having been engaged 
in Europe in the same business. 

The non-success of this enterprise and the causes are narrated in the general 
history of the county. After the abandonment of his furnace he became the 
manager of the Westmoreland furnace, owned by John Probst, near Laughlins- 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 13^ 

town, Westmoreland county. In about a year's time afterwards, Mr. Anschutz^ 
removed to Huntington county. Pa., and became interested and part owner of fur- 
naces there. He died at Pittsburgh, February 28th, 1837, in his eighty-fourtb 
year. Although the furnace erected by him was abandoned for causes already 
stated, Mr. Anshutz is entitled to the honor of being the pioneer in the blast fur- 
nace business of Allegheny county. 

Prior to or immediately subsequent to the date of Anshutz's furnace, Wm^ 
Porter was actively engaged in the manufacture of iron implements needed by 
emigrants who were then in numbers embarking at Pittsburgh for settlements in 
Kentucky and the Northwest territory, as Ohio was then called. Just what is the 
exact date at which Wm. Porter established this species of manufacturing does- 
not appear in any of the early publications. It is mentioned, however, in a statis- 
tical account of the manufactures of Pittsburgh, in 1803, published in Q^amer's^ 
Almanack, 1804, that axes, hoes, ploughs, iron chains, etc., was made, also cut and 
hammered nails. As these were among the articles that emigrants would need, it 
may be presumed that Wm. Porter's shop or factory had been established previous- 
to the statistical account quoted. He died in 1808, and his remains are interred 
in the old graveyard that surrounds the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh^ 
The next iron manufactory at Pittsburgh, was the foundry established in 1803 by 
Joseph McClurg. This industrial establishment is doubly historical, that in it 
were cast some of the cannon for Perry's fleet on Lake Erie in the war of 1812-14,. 
also a portion of the balls for the guns. In 1807 three nail factories are mentioned 
in Cramer's Almanack, Stringers, Stewarts, and Porters, the Wm. Porter previously 
mentioned. About forty tons a year being stated as the product of the three- 
factories. 

In 1810 the same factories made 200 tons. The iron from which these nails- 
were made, and that from which, about 1800, Wm. Porter made his implements^ 
was brought over the Allegheny mountains on pack horses. Of this Eupp, in his- 
history of Cumberland county, says : " The pack horses used to carry bars of iron 
on their backs, crooked over and around their bodies. Barrels or kegs were hung- 
on either side. Col. Snyder, of Chambersburg, in a conversation with the writer^ 
(Eupp.) in August, 1845, said that he cleared many a day from $6.00 to |8,00 in. 
crooking or bending iron, and in shoeing horses for western carriers." 

The nails were made partially by machine and partially by hand, and it seems- 
to have been very slow and laborious work. Nails, however, were quite extensive- 
ly made at Brownsville, Fayette county, in 1795, by Jacob Bowman, who estab- 
lished thie first nail factory west of the mountains, where wrought nails were made- 
by hand and cut nails by machine. Fayette county was to a large extent the fore- 
runner of Pittsburgh in the smelting of iron, and the casting of iron hollow ware^ 
and various of the cruder forms of iron ; and the first furnace west of the Alle- 
ghenies was a furnace on Jacob's creek, which was put in blast November Ist^ 
1790. The first furnace in Allegheny county has been previously mentioned as 
that of 1792. The first rolling mill in Allegheny county was erected in 1811-12^ 



140 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

by Christopher Cowan, a Scotch-Irishman. He had been a clerk for Wm. Porter, 
and when the latter person died seems to have succeeded to his establishment. 
This rolling mill, which had no puddling furnaces, was on the site of the Fourth 
ward school house, at the corner of Penn avenue and Cecil alley. Of this mill 
Oramer's Navigator^ for 1814, says: 

" Mr. Cowan has erected a most powerful steam engine to reduce iron to var- 
ious purposes. It is calculated for a seventy horse-power, which puts into com- 
plete operation a rolling-mill, a slitting-mill and a tilt-hammer, all under the 
came roof. This establishment furnishes sheet-iron, nail and spike rods, shovels, 
tongs, spades, scythes, sickles, hoes, axes, frying-pans, cutting-knives, vises, scale- 
beams, chisels, augers, etc." 

In connection with the first rolling mill the following incident, as showing the 
■contrasts between the methods of business intercourse then and to-day, is illustra- 
tive. Mr. Cowan, who had established a branch house at Nashville, under the 
<;haige of Gen. Carrol, found it necessary to communicate with him as expedi- 
tiously as possible. Reuben Miller, the father of Reuben Miller, Jr., one of Pitts- 
burgh's most notable citizens, was a clerk with Mr. Cowan and was selected to visit 
Nashville. Starting on horse-back, as the most expeditious method, he rode on one 
horse the 700 miles in thirteen days, making what was considered ^uick journey. 
He used to tell that frequently he rode fifty miles without seeing a house. One 
<iay, in the dusk of the evening, after such a day of solitariness, he came to a 
small cabin. The inhabitants were willing to shelter him but were out of provis- 
ions. That day Mr. Miller had fortunately killed a pheasant with a lucky blow 
•of his heavy riding whip, so producing his bird, and his host some corn, which 
they broke up finely between some stones, and making of it some corn dodgers 
they roasted the pheasant and fared quite sumptuously. The contrast between 
the commercial traveller of to-day in palace and dining room cars, rushing along 
at a speed of as many miles an hour as Mr. Miller rode, with rapid riding, in one 
'day, is illustrative of the progress of the century. Mr. Miller's journey was also a 
collecting tour, and he brought his collections back in " sharp shins," what seems 
to have been an elder brother of " shin plasters " born of the same financial neces- 
sities, and while more reliable as to intrinsic value, must have been the source of 
much worriment to a collector for a large firm. They frequently required two or 
three mules to bring home their collections. In early times collections were large- 
ly made in this peculiar currency. "Sharp shins" were silver coins cut into 
equal parts. A thin slip was cut out of the middle of a dollar, for instance, which 
tslip was retained by the cutter for his trouble. Each remaining piece was cut in- 
to four parts of equal size called " levees," or eleven-penny bits, making eight le- 
Tees to the dollar. Smaller pieces were cut into " bits " or " fi'penny bits," which 
^ere usually a quarter of a dollar cut into four pieces. 

This, while a digression from the theme of these pages, is pardonable, that it is 
illustrative of those early days in which the iron trade of Allegheny county 
originated. 

Mr. Cowan does not appear to have long operated the mill, as according to 
dramer^s Almanack, in 1814, it had been transferred to Messrs. Stackpole & Whit- 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 141 

ing. In 1818, it was owned by Kuggles, Stackpole & Whiting, which firm failed 
in 1819. This failure was, no doubt, occasioned by the depression following the 
war of 1812-14, by which the prosperity of the county was greatly affected. So 
great was the depression that in 1819, whereas, in 1815, the manufacturing 
interest of Pittsl)urgli had a value of $2,617,883 and employed 1,960 persons, it 
had, in 1819, fallen to a value of only $832,000 employing 672 persons. The 
effects of this depression are further noted in the general history of the county.. 
Some time after the failure of Euggles, Stackpole & Whitney, their mill passed 
into the hands of Kichard Bowen, and, in 1836, it was operated by the firm of 
Smith, Eoyer & Co. They failed in the panic of 1837-8, and the works were 
finally dismantled. At the time Mr. Cowan built the mill the iron manufactur- 
ing establishments in Pittsburgh seem to have been very largely increased consid- 
ering the size and population of the town, which, in 1813, had but 5,749 inhabitants 
and there were 958 houses. In 1813 there were two "air furnaces, Joseph Mc- 
Clurg's, as before mentioned, and Anthony Beelen's," and one carried on by Mr. 
Price. This latter person was an eccentric Englishman of peculiar religious views^ 
and many other singular characteristics. 

Anthony Beelen, to whom the second air furnace or foundry is credited, was a 
Frenchman, justly claiming the title of Count de Beelen, of admirable business 
habits and enterprising characteristics. He was one of the firm of Denny & 
Beelen, who, in 1800, were the factors of the Ohio Glass Company, the proprietors 
of the second glass house mentioned in the chapter on the glass trade of Pitts- 
burgh. 

He was also, as appears from the accounts of the manufacturers of Pittsburgh 
iu 1813, a proprietor of a white lead works. There was also in Pittsburgh in 1813^ 
an edged tool and cutlery factory, carried on by Brown, Barker & Butler ; a steam 
works for making shovels, spades, and sythes, by Foster & Murray ; a lock factory* 
Mr. Patterson's ; a factory for files and door handles, etc., Updegraff's ; two steam 
engine works, one carried on by Stackhouse and Eodgers, the other by a Mr. Tus- 
tin ; and a steel factory by Tuper & McKowan. The second rolling mill established 
in the city was the " Union," which was situated on the Monongahela near where 
is now the South 10th street bridge. It was built in 1818 by Wm. Robinson, Jr.^ 
John K. McNickle, Daniel Beltzhoover, and Henry Baldwin, afterwards United 
States Judge. It made the iron for the first Allegheny river bridge, and the mak- 
ing of it was the first order the firm filled. It is said that the first angle iron 
rolled in the United States was rolled at this mill. The mill was dismantled and 
abandoned in 1829 

As a clearer presentation of the progress of the chief iron industries of Alle- 
gheny county, it is perhaps better to group them in their respective classes, and 
proceeding with the 

Rolling Mills, 

The establishment of the two first of which have already been noted, the next was 
popularly called Grant's Hill Mill, from its location. This mill was built in 1821, 



142 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

hy Wm. B. Hays and David Adams, under the firm style of Hays & Adams. As 
the water for the use of the mill had to be hauled from the Monongahela river, it 
is difficult to understand why a rolling mill should have been located there. It 
does not seem to have been a success, nor are there any accounts of its business or 
the causes of its abandonment. 

In 1824 Dr. Peter Shoenberger, who died in 1854 or 1856, built what is known 
as the "Juniata Iron Mill," on the site where it now stands, at the corner of Fif- 
teenth street and the Allegheny river, he having been for some years previously 
^engaged in the furnace and blooming business in Huntingdon county, Pa. He 
subsequently associated with him one of his two sons, and the style of the firm 
became P. Shoenberger & Son. About 1836 his two sons, George K, and John H., 
•succeeded to the business, and the firm style was changed to G. & J. H. Shoen- 
berger, and about 1857 Wm. H. Shoenberger, son of George K., of Cincinnati, 
was admitted as a partner, when the style of the firm was changed to G. & J. H. 
Shoenberger & Co. 

In 1863 the style of the firm became Shoenberger & Co. (Wm. H, Shoen- 
berger, Thos. S. Blair, Wm. Crawford, Jr., John S. Slagle, Edwin Mills and David 
^Crawford.) In 1864 David Crawford sold his interest in the firm to his partners. 

On Februaiy 1st, 1865 a firm composed of Wm. H. Shoenberger, Thos. S. Blair, 
John S. Slagle, Edwin Mills, Wm. Crawford, Jr., Geo. K, Shoenberger and John 
H. Shoenberger was formed under the style of Wm. H. Shoenberger & Co., to 
€rect and work a blast-furnace. 

In 1868, John S. Slagle and Edwin Mills retired from the firm of Shoenberger 
<& Co. and a new firm formed under the same style composed of Wm. H. Shoen- 
berger, Thos. S. Blair, Wm. Crawford, Jr., Chas. L. Fitzhugh, John Z. Speer, Geo. 
K. and John H. Shoenberger. The style of the blast furnace firm was at the same 
time changed to Shoenberger, Blair & Co., the partners therein being the same 
as those in the rolling mill, Wm. Crawford, Jr., subsequently disposing of his in- 
terest in the firm to his partners. 

In 1873 a new firm under the same style of Shoenberger & Co., was formed by 
Wm. H. Shoenberger, Thos. S. Blair, Chas. L. Fitzhugh, John Z. Speer, Peter 
Shoenberger, son of Geo. K. of Cincinnatti, Gotleib A. Steiner, Geo. K. and John 
H. Shoenberger. The firm of Shoenberger, Blair & Co., continuing with the same 
partners as were in the rolling mill. 

On March 22, 1877, Wm. H. Shoenberger sold his interest in the firm to Peter 
Shoenberger, the balance of the partners remaining as in 1873. 

In 1878 a new firm was organized consisting of Peter Shoenberger, Thos. S. 
Blair, John Z. Speer, Chas. L. Fitzhugh, Gotleib A. Steiner, Geo. K. and John H. 
Shoenberger, the business style of Shoenberger & Co. being continued. The firm 
carrying on the blast furnace being comprised of the same persons as those in the 
firm operating the rolling mill. 

In 1883, Thos. Blair sold out his interest to his partners, and in June 1883 the 
style of the blast furnace firm was changed to Shoenberger, Speer & Co. The 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 143 

style of the rolling mill remaining as heretofore, and the balance of the partners 
remaining unchanged until January, 1888, when Peter Shoenberger died. 

In 1825 the Sligo Iron Works were built by Eobert T. Stewart and John Lyon, 
and carried on under the firm name of Stewart & Lyon. In 1828 Anthony Shorb 
and James and Joseph Barnett purchased the interest of Messrs. Lyon and Stew- 
art, and the mills were carried on under the firm style of Barnetts & Shorb. In 
1830 John Lyon purchased the interest of the Messrs. Barnett, and the firm name 
was changed to Lyon, Shorb & Co., under which style the business of the Sligo 
Mill was prosecuted until 1872-4, when the works were sold to Phillips, Nimick & 
Co., under which firm style they are now operated. Anthony Shorb died in 1856, 
and John Lyon in 1868. 

In 1828 John McNickle built the Dowlas Rolling Mill where the Kensington 
Rolling Mill now stands, the name of the mill having been changed to the latter 
title, by which name it was known in 1836, the style of the firm being Leonard 
Semple & Co. The mill afterward passed into the hands of Freeman & Miller 

( Freeman and Alex. Miller) about 1845, by whom it was rebuilt, having 

been burned down in the great fire of that year. Subsequently the works passed 
into the control of Alex. Miller, who was succeeded by Miller, Lloyd & Black 
(Alexander Miller, Henry Lloyd and George Black). At some period within the 
foregoing dates the mill is said to have been worked by a firm styled Church & 
Carothers. The firm of Miller, Lloyd & Black was succeeded by that of Lloyd & 
Black, Alexander Miller retiring. George Black dying in 1872, the firm became 
Henry Lloyd, Son & Co., (Henry Lloyd, John W. Lloyd, Wm. F. Lloyd and Hen- 
ry Balken.) Henry Lloyd dying Feb. 12th, 1879, a partnership was formed of 
Henry Lloyd, Jr., John W. Lloyd, Wm.F. Lloyd and Henry Balken, and organized 
under the former firm style, as it still continues. 

In 1828 the Etna Rolling Mill was virtually built by Henry S. Spang, the 
scythe and sickle factory which was on its site having been purchased by him from 
H. K. Belknap, who in 1826 succeeded Belknap, Bean & Butler, by whom they 
were built in 1820. The works were put in operation by H. S. Spang & Son (H. 
S. Spang, Chas. F. Spang). Subsequently the firm became Spang & Co. (Chas. F. 
Spang and James McAuley). This firm continued until 1856, when the present firm 
of Spang, Chalfant & Co. was formed, composed of C. H. Spang, John W. Chalfant, 
C. B. Herron and George A. Chalfant. 

In 1828 Zebulon Packard built an iron works where is now the corner of 
Thirteenth and Etna streets for the purpose of making shovels and nails. He was 
succeeded by Jesse, William and James Lippincott, and the works were styled the 
Lippincott Nail and Shovel Factory. The Lippincotts were succeeded by Kings, 

Higby & Anderson (John and King, Wm. Anderson, a son of Colonel James 

Anderson, and Enoch Higby). The mill had no puddling furnace, but rolled 
Juniata blooms, making therefrom nails and shovels. The firm becoming finan- 
cially embarrassed, Col. James Anderson bought the mill about 1839-40, and built 
some puddling furnaces and put up some more rolls. In April, 1845, the mill was 



144 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

sold to Graff, Lindsay & Co. (Henry Graff, John Lindsay, Wra. Larimer, Jr., 
Christopher Zug), when the name of the mill was changed to the "Sable" Iron 
Works. This firm was succeeded by Zug & Lindsay, the partners being the same 
as the preceding firm, with the exception of Henry Graff, who withdrew. In 1857 
the mill was purchased by Zug & Painter (C. Zug, Jacob Painter), under which 
style of firm the mill was carried on until 1864, when Zug & Painter having also 
previously purchased the "Pittsburgh" Rolling Mill, the firm divided, and Chris- 
topher Zug and Chas. H. Zug, under the firm style of Zug & Co., took charge of 
the " Sable " Mill, Jacob Painter & Sons, under that firm style, retaining the 
"Pittsburgh" Mill. The firm of Zug & Co. continued until 1876, when Christo- 
pher Zug, Chas. H. Zug, James Hemphill, Wm. Mcintosh, Wm. Clark and T. C. 
Clarkson, under the firm style of Zug & Co., Limited, succeeded to the ownership.. 
In July, 1887, Christopher Zug, Chas. H. Zug, Anthony Keating and T. C. Clark- 
son purchased the interest of the balance of the partners, the firm style remaining 
as Zug & Co., Limited, as it is at this date. 

In 1829 the Wayne Iron Works were built at the corner of Tenth street and 
Duquesne way, by F. H. Oliphant. From him they passed into the possession of 
M. S. Mason, popularly called Manuscript Mason from his initials. Mr. Mason 
was a partner of the wholesale dry goods house of Mason & McDonough, at that 
time on Wood street, near Fifth avenue. From Mr. Mason, of whose associates, 
if he had any, in the iron business no information could be obtained, the works 
passed to the firm of Miltenberger & Brown, (George Miltenberger, James Brown). 
They were succeeded by Bailey, Brown & Co. ( W. B. Brown, Samuel Bailey, Fran- 
cis Bailey), and Poindexter & Co., (R. W. Poindexter and A. Culbertson) ; subse- 
quently Francis G. Bailey retired and Wm. R. Brown became a partner ; and that 
firm by Brown & Co., (John H. Brown, his sons, and Joseph S. Brown,) under 
which style the firm is still continued by John H. Brown, J. Stewart Brown and 
Henry Graham Brown — Joseph S. Brown having retired. 

In 1836 Frederick Lorenz, Jacob Forsythe and James Cuddy formed a co-part- 
nership under the style of Lorenz, Forsythe & Cuddy, and built the " Pittsburgh 
Rolling Mill," on the south side of the Monongahela river, in what is now the 
Thirty-fifth ward of Pittsburgh. This firm was succeeded by Lorenz & Cuddy, 
Jacob Forsythe withdrawing and Henry Sterling purchasing into the firm. Sub- 
sequently the firm style became Lorenz, Sterling & Co. Sometime about 1861, or 
previous, the mill property was bought by Zug & Painter (Christopher Zug and 
Jacob Painter). At the separation of this firm, as before mentioned in the chron- 
ology of the Sable Rolling Mill, the firm of Zug & Painter changed to J. Painter 
& Sons, they retaining the Pittsburgh Rolling Mills. Jacob Painter having died in 
1888, the firm became J. Painter & Sons, Limited. 

In 1836 Samuel H. Hartman, John Hartman and Hem/ Beeler, under the 
firm name of Hartman, Beeler & Hartman, built the " Birmingham Rolling Mill," 
in what was then the Borough of Birmingham, on the south side of the Monon- 
gahela river. At a period subsequent, Samuel H. Hartman, Abraham H. Hoge 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 145 

and Whilmore formed a firm under the style of Hoge, Whitmore & Co., and 

succeeded the previous firm. In 1841 the works were carried on by Woods, Ed- 
wards & McKnight; from this firm the mill passed into the proprietorship of 
McKnight & Bro,, ( Wm, McKnight, Joseph McKnight.) The firm afterwards be- 
came McKnight & Co.; Joseph McKnight having died, and Wm. McKnight retir- 
ing from active business. The firm ultimately succumbed under financial difficul- 
ties. 

About 1830 a rolling mill was built at what is now the intersection of Eobinson 
and Darragh streets, Allegheny, by Col, James Anderson, Wm. Stewart and Syl- 
vanus Lothrop, under the firm and style of Anderson, Lothrop & Co. This mill 
was subsequently sold to the firm of Bissell, Morrison & Stephens, (John Bissell, 
Wm. Morrison, E. W. Stephens) ; subsequently, Wm. Morrison retiring or selling 
his interest to Wm. M. Semple, the firm became Bissell, Semple & Stephens. Sub- 
sequently, about 1835, Messrs. Semple and Stephens retiring, Mr. Stephens going 
to Wheeling, John Bissell associated with him his son, and the firm became John 
Bissell & Co. The mill was finally abandoned about 1846-8. 

In 1842 Elms & Chess, (Philander Elms and David Chess), built or rather be- 
gan working a small tack factory, in one room of a planing mill on 16th street, 
with two tack machines run by horse-power. From this grew what has been 
known for nearly two score years as the Anchor Nail and Tack Works. Like all 
the other rolling mills of Allegheny county several changes of firms have occurred 
in the carrying on of these works. The original firm of Elms & Chess, was suc- 
ceeded by that of Campbell & Chess. 

In 1854 the firm was changed to Chess, Wilson & Co., (David Chess, Robert 
Wilson and others,) having absorbed another tack manufacturing firm styled 
Billings, Wilson & Co. 

In 1860, the firm became Chess, Smythe & Co., (Richard Smythe, Jacob W. 
Cook, Robert J. Anderson, David Chess), and they were succeeded in 1880 by 
Chess, Cook & Co. Robert J. Anderson withdrawing and subsequently engaged in 
the manufacture of steel, Jacob W. Cook and Richard Smythe having died a new 
firm consisting of Henry Chess, Walter Chess, Harry B. Chess, Thos. McK. Cook 
and G. R. Lauman was formed in 1883, under the old style of Chess, Cook & Co., 
which still continues in the proprietorship of the Anchor Nail and Tack Works. 

These works were twice almost entirely destroyed by fire once in 1864 and 
again in 1866. 

In 1844, Wm. H. Everson and associates built the Pennsylvania Forge, at the 
place where the present rolling mill of that name stands. In or about 1852-4 the 
forge passed into the ownership of Wm. H. Everson, Barclay Preston, Thos. K. 
Hodkinson and Christopher L. Grafi*, under the firm style of Everson, Preston & 
Co. At a subsequent date the firm became Everson, Macrum & Co. Mr. Hod- 
kinson having retired and gone to Philadelphia to reside, the firm was dissolved in 
1873-4. Mr. Preston, having withdrawn from the iron business, was subsequently 
elected president of the People's National Bank, and died May, 1887, while hold- 
10 



146 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

fng that office. At a later period the mill passed into the proprietorship of 
Everson, Hammond & Orr, and subsequently into the firm of Hammond, Orr & Co.) 
Limited ; while in this firm's proprietorship it was seriously injured by fire, and 
the firm went into liquidation. 

In 1845, what is known as the "Clinton Mills," was built by Arnold Plummer 
and Wm. Ebbs, and operated under the firm style of A. Plummer & Co. To this 
firm and mill Cuddy, Jones & Co. became successors. (James Cuddy, Morris 
Jones, Wm. Ebbs,) In 1853, James I. Bennett, Kobert K. Marshall, Wm. B- 
English, Edward Bahm, and W. P. Jones, formed a co-partnership under the style 
of Bennett, Marshall & Co., and purchased the " Clinton Mills." In 1854 the firm 
of GraflT, Bennett & Co., successors to the previous firm, John GraflT purchasing an 
interest, and Edward Kahm and W. P. Jones retiring. 

In 1845, the Vesuvius Polling Mill was built by Robert Dalzell, James Lewis 
and others near Etna borough, and operated under the firm style of Lewis, Dalzell 
& Co. Owing to financial difficulties the works passed into the ownership of John 
Moorhead, and subsequently the works were put in operation under the style of 
Moorhead Bros. & Co. 

In 1846, Wm. Coleman, James Hailman and Samuel H. Hartman built the 
Duquesne Spring Steel Works, and operated the same under the firm style of Cole- 
man, Hailman & Co. These works were subsequently remodeled into a rolling 
mill, under the management of the firm of Hailman, Kahm & Co., at which time 
the mill was on 16th street. The firm finally dissolved, some of the partners 
having died, and the machinery was sold, some of it being taken to Erie, Pa., to 
form part of a rolling mill in that city. 

In or about 1849-50, a number of rolling mill workmen who had lost their 
positions in other mills through participation in the labor strikes and riots of 1849, 
built a small rolling mill at Millvale, which was called the Mechanic Iron Works* 
This mill subsequently passed into the possession of Stewart, Lloyd & Co., (Thos* 
Stewart, Alfred Lloyd,) and from them to Lorenz, Stewart & Co., (Frederick 
Lorenz, Kobert Stewart, James Grrey,) when it became known as the '' Lorenz 
Kolling Mill." The firm was financially unfortunate and the mill was purchased, 
in 1861, by Graff, Bennett & Co., by whom it was enlarged from time to time, and 
in 1886-7, almost entirely rebuilt. 

In 1851 W. Dewee^rWood erected the "McKeesport Rolling Mill," at Mc- 
Keesport, for the purpose of manufacturing a special kind of planished or Russia 
sheet iron, under a patent granted to James Wood, the grandfather of W. Dewees 
Wood, and under an improvement made by J. Wood Brothers, in 1844. The 
imitation of Russia sheet iron made by this establishment, although equal in 
appearance to the imported Rus'sia article, would not resist the action of the 
atmosphere as well. 

This difficulty was partially overcome in 1861 through improvements by W. D. 
Wood. Other improvements were patented by him in 1865, '67, '73, '74, '76 and 
'78; but the required result was not fully attained until 1883. 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 147 

The growth of this important branch of Pittsburgh's manufactures is the result 
of forty years' experimenting and study upon the part of the inventor; and this 
city is the only point in the country where an article of planished sheet iron is 
produced fully equal, if not superior, in all respects to the best Russian iron, and 
which is so endorsed by all the master mechanics of the railroads, locomotive 
builders and stove dealers throughout the country. 

Like other mills, the McKeesport mill has been operated by various firms 
IVood, Moorhead & Co. (W. Dewees Wood, M. K. Moorhead, &qo. F. McCleane)' 
then Wood & Lukens, who was succeeded in 1871 by W. D. Wood & Co., and that 
firm in 1884 by W. D. W^ood & Co., limited (W. D. Wood, and his sons Eichard 
O., Allan W. and Thos. D. Wood). 

In 1852 the American Iron Works, now the largest in Pittsburgh, was estab- 
lished under the firm style of Jones, Lauth & Co. (B. F. Jones, Bernard Lauth) • 
in 1853 they purchased the Monongahela Iron Works, at Brownsville, which they 
ran for about a year and then dismantled, transferring the machinery to the 
American Iron Works, at Pittsburgh. In 1854 James Laughlin purchased an interest 
in the works, Mr. Lauth retiring, and the firm name was changed to Jones & 
Laughlin. In 1883 the firm became Jones & Laughlin, limited, B. F. Jones, 
chairman; Geo. M. Laughlin, secretary- treasurer; Thos. M. Jones, general man- 
ager, Mr. James Laughlin dying December 18, 1882. In connection with this 
mill it is proper to state that it produces an article made nowhere else in the 
world, known as cold rolled polished shafting, being a special product of the 
American Iron Works. These works, like many other of the iron works, in the 
change that is gradually going on in the use of steel in the place of iron, has also 
embarked in the making of steel. 

In 1856 there were in Allegheny county twenty firms engaged in the rolling 
mill business, having twenty-five mills and two hundred and sixty-two puddling 
furnaces, 165 heating furnaces, 448 nail machines, producing 699,762 kegs of nails 
in that year, 10,000 boxes of tacks, 77,000 tons of rolled iron, and other articles 
to the value of over |11,000,000. They employed 4,632 hands, to whom they paid 
wages yearly to the amount of |2,366,000, and the capital invested in grounds 
buildings and machinery was something over $4,000,000. 

The comparative increase from 1810 to 1856 the following statistics show: In 
1810 there were sold in Pittsburgh 4,900 tons of bar anJ steel iron — but none 
made, it being brought from points to the eastward across the mountains. In 1829 
there were, according to the Pittsburgh Gazette, eight rolling mills, using 6,000 tons 
of blooms, 1,500 tons of pig metal, and employing 300 hands. In 1831, according 
to Peck & Tannei^s Guides of that year, there were but six rolling mills, the value 
of whose products was about $274,000. This is probably an erroneous estimate. 

In 1836, according to Lyford's Western Directory, there were nine mills, using 
28,000 tons of pig metal and blooms, employing 1,000 hands, and producing manu- 
factured iron to the value of $4,160,000. In 1850, according to Fahnestock'' s Direc- 
tory, there were in Pittsburgh thirteen rolling mills, with a capital of five millions 



148 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

of dollars, employing 2,500 hands, consuming 60,000 tons of pig iron, and produc- 
ing bar iron and nails to the value of |4,000,000. In 1864, according to Chas. A*- 
McKnight, there were nineteen rolling mills in Pittsburgh, with 176^ puddling 
ovens, 121 heating furnaces, with 253 nail machines, consuming 98,850 tons of 
metal, and employing 2,720 hands. The statistics of 1856 are as before stated. 
These figures show an increase in seven years, from 1829 to 1836, of a small per 
cent, in number of mills, but about 300 per cent, in amount of metal used, 

From 1836 to 1856, a period of twenty years, there is an increase of over 100 
per cent, in the number of mills, and about 300 per cent, in amount of metal used ;. 
and a similar increase in the number of hands employed, and not quite 200 per 
cent, in the values of products. This latter item is hardly a fair criterion of the 
progress, as fluctuations in prices might reduce the per centages of total values 
even on increase per centages of production. The entire exhibit is, however, evi- 
dence of the rapid progress Allegheny county was making in this great staple of 
her manufactures. 

From 1856 to 1883, another period of twenty-seven years, the number of the 
iron mills of Allegheny county increased another 100 per cent. 

In 1857 the Glendon Mills were built by Porter, Rolfe & Swett, near Sixth 
street, South Side. Through various changes in the firm from the death of the 
original partners, and an interest in the firm being purchased by Joseph Dilworth, 
the firm becanxe Dilworth, Porter & Co., and afterwards Dilworth, Porter & Co., 
limited, under which title the works are now carried on. In 1859 the Soho Iron 
Works were built by Moorhead & Co., under which style they are still operated. 

In 1861-2 the Lower Union Mills were built by Kloman & Phipps, which firm 
was organized September 1st, 1861, and afterwards sold to the " Union Iron Mills," 
incorporated May 1st, 1865, who were succeeded by Carnegie, Kloman & Co., which 
firm was organized January 1st, 1871. From this firm the works passed into the 
ownership of Wilson, Leggate & Co., organized January 1st, 1873, and from that 
firm to Wilson, Walker & Co., organized January 1st, 1875, which firm became 
Wilson, Walker & Co., limited, January 1st, 1882, and by that firm the Lower 
Union Mills were sold to Carnegie, Phipps & Co., limited, January 1st, 1886. 

The " Upper Union Mills " were built in 1864 by the Cyclops Iron Co., organized 
July 1st, 1864, by whom they were sold to the Union Iron Mills, incorporated 
May 1st, 1865, by whom they were sold to Carnegie, Kloman & Co., organized 
January 1st, 1871, and by them to Carnegie Bros. & Co., organized April 1st, 1875, 
and by them to Carnegie Bros. & Co., limited, organized April 1st, 1881, and by 
them to Carnegie Phipps & Co., limited, organized January 1st, 1886. 

In 1871 the Lucy Furnaces were built by Kloman & Carnegie Bros., organized 
December 31, 1870, by whom they were sold to the Lucy Furnace Co., organized 
April 1st, 1875, and by that company to Carnegie Bros. & Co., limited, organized 
April 1st, 1881, and by that firm to the Lucy Furnace Co., limited, organized June 
1st, 1881, and by it to Carnegie, Phipps & Co., limited, organized January 1st, 
1886. As a clearer presentation of the chronological record of what is popularly 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 149 

termed the " Carnegie plants," and thus giving the reader a verbal bird's-eye view 
of what is a remarkable illustration in virtually one firm's establishment of the 
growth of the iron and steel industries of Allegheny county, the genealogy of the 
additional mills and correlative works in the Carnegie association is here noted ; 
although some of them would more correctly find place in the account of steel 
manufacturing, but are grouped here for succinctness. 

In 1873 the Edgar Thomson Steel Works and Blast Furnaces were founded 
% Carnegie, McCandless & Co., which firm was organized January 13th, 1873, 
who sold their partially constructed plant to "The Edgar Thomson Steel Co.," Lim- 
ited, which was organized October 10th, 1874, under which firm style the works 
were operated until they were sold to Carnegie Bros. & Co., Limited, an association 
organized on April 1st, 1881. In connection with this immense plant, as adjunct 
to its operations is the Larimer Coke Works, built by Carnegie & Co., a general 
partnership organized April 1st, 1871, which cokery was sold to Carnegie Bros* 
■& Co., Limited, April 1st, 1881. The Youghiogheny Coke Works built in 1888 
fcy Carnegie Bros. & Co., Limited ; and also the Scotia Ore Mine of Carnegie Bros. 
& Co., Limited, established 1881. In 1880 the Homestead Steel works were built 
fcy the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Co., Limited, which was organized October 22d, 
1879, and sold to Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Limited, January 1st, 1886. The Car- 
negie Natural Gas Co.,. which, under the adoption of gas fuel, became a consequent 
adjunct to the foregoing works, was incorporated March 10th, 1886, own and 
operate wells in Murraysville and Grapeville gas fields, conveying the gas from 
thence in ten, twelve and sixteen inch pipes towards Pittsburgh, supplying enroute 
the Edgar Thomson Steel Works and Blast Furnaces, at Braddock, and the 
Homestead Steel Works, at Munhall. Of these "Carnegie plants," Carnegie* 
Phipps & Co, Limited, own and operate in 1888, the centennial year of Allegheny 
<30unty, the Lucy Furnaces, the Upper Union Mills, (steel and iron,) the Lower 
Union Mills, (steel and iron,) the Homestead Steel Works, Carnegie Bros. & Co., 
I^imited, the Edgar Thomson Steel Works and Blast Furnaces, the Larimer Coke 
Works, the Youghiogheny Coke Works, and the Scotia Ore Mines. In addition 
there is controlled by the Carnegie capital, the Hartman Steel Works, built in 
1882-3 by the Beaver Wire Co., and sold March 1st, 1883, to the Hartman Steel 
'Co., Limited, consisting of two wire mills, a steel rolling mill, a rod mill, and wire 
nail factories. The American Manganese Co., Limited, which operate the Crimora 
ore mines in Augusta county, Ya., and the Old Dominion ore mines adjoining, 
opened in 1883 by J. B. White & Co., and sold in 1885, to the American Man- 
ganese Co., Limited, which was organized February 2d, 1885. Also the controll- 
ing factors in the ownership and management of the Keystone Bridge Co. The 
■Carnegie interests mentioned above represent a capital of upward fifteen millions of 
dollars. 

Returning to the regular chronological sequence it appears that, in 1862, Lind- 
-:say & McCutcheon began operating the Star Rolling Mill, and still continue. In 
1862, Reese, GraflT & Dull built the Fort Pitt Iron & Steel Works, at the foot of 



150 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Thirty- third street. The firm subsequently became Eeese, Graff & Wood, and 
after some other changes the works passed into the occupancy of Graff, Bennett & 
Co., and where by them sold to the Carbon Iron Co. In 1863, the firm of Byers? 
McCullough & Co., built an iron mill for the making of iron pipe chiefly, which 
firm, a few years afterwards, became A. M. Byers & Co. ; under which style the 
firm still continues. In 1863, the Ormsby Iron Works were built by Wharton 
Bros. & Co., near South Thirty-second street; not being successful the buildings 
were bought after some years by the Eepublican Iron Works Co., Limited, were 
improved and enlarged and are by that company now operated. 

In 1864, Lewis, Oliver & Phillips, (W. J. Lewis, Henry W. Oliver, Jr., Jas- 
Oliver, David B. Oliver,) built the Monongahela Iron Mill, and in 1866, the Alle- 
gheny. The firm subsequently changed to Oliver Bros. & Phillips, under which 
title the mills are now operated, W. J. Lewis retiring. In 1864, the Pittsburgh 
Forge & Iron Co. put up a large iron works in Allegheny city, by which company 
they are still run. In 1864 the Pittsburgh Bolt Works were built by the Pitts- 
burgh Bolt Co., but becoming financially embarrassed about 1877, the works passed 
into the hands of assignees. 

In 1865 the Keystone Iron Mill was built by Glass, Neely & Co., but that firm 
becoming financially embarrassed the works passed into the hands of assignees and 
were purchased by the Elba Iron Bolt Co. This firm also becoming embarrassed 
after an interval, a new company was formed with fresh capital, and under the 
same title the works are still operated. In 1869, Lewis, Clark & Co. built the 
Solar Iron Works at Thirty-fifth and Railroad streets, which firm subsequently 
became Wm. Clark & Co., Mr. Lewis retiring, when the firm became Wm. Clark's 
Sons & Co., Limited, under which style the works are now operated. In 1873 the 
U. S. Iron & Tin Plate Co. built works at a point near Port Perry, Allegheny 
county. The works were burned in 1883, and were rebuilt and now operated by 
the same company. 

In 1876, Kirkpatrick & Co. built the Leechburg Iron Works. In 1877, Long 
& Co., the Vulcan Iron Works. In 1881 the Spang Steel & Iron Co., Limited, was 
organized, C. B. Herron, chairman ; John C. Porter, secretary and treasurer; and 
Geo. A. Chalfant, manager. In 1883 the Chartiers Iron & Steel Co., Limited,, 
their works, and the Cannonsburg Iron Co., theirs. In 1886 there were at Pitts- 
burgh thirty-five firms carrying on the rolling mill business, so to be designated 
for want of a more distinct title, as iron business is a generic term for the whole 
range of iron metal and their manufactures. 

For various causes complete statistics of their product is not only difficult but 
seemingly impossible to obtain. As near as could be collated, and it is thought to 
be a close approximation, the product of these mills is over 550,000 tons. The ca- 
pacity of these mills is set down as reputed, at over 766,000 tons a year. This, it 
will be observed, is exclusive of the steel and rail mills. 

The area of ground occupied by these mills in the usages of their business, is^ 
138 acres, employing over 18,000 hands in all the departments of labor, whose 



STEEL AND IRON TRADE. 151 

wages would average, as nearly as could be arrived at in round numbers, from 
$11,000,000 to 112,000,000. Owing to the reluctance among firms to make any 
exposition of the details of their business, and questions arising out of labor distur- 
bances, the exact statistics of disbursement of wages are not to be arrived at, but 
the figures given are probably a close approximation. Of the capital employed in 
this branch of Pittsburgh's industries in the prosecution of the business thereof, is 
an item that could not be consistently asked, or expected to be given. Some idea 
may be had by the capital in the plants of these 35 rolling mills, viz : ground, 
buildings and machinery which is computed at between $17,000,000 and $18,000,- 
000. Or an investment of that large sum, which unless the mills are running, is 
virtually sunk and non-productive. The value of the product of these mills is 
also a matter upon which no absolute statistics can be given, because of the fluctu- 
ations in values constantly arising from various causes. Neither can those values 
be based on past returns for the same reason. Then there are specialties made by 
especial mills, whose prices are not regulated by any fixed market rate made by 
the competitors for the general trade, but regulated by the circumstances sur- 
rounding their production. 

Taking the value of the about 700,000 tons of metal consumed by these mills, 
the estimated amount of wages paid, together with all the other outlays of manu- 
facturing, and allowing but a very small per cent, of margin over cost of produc- 
tion, it is probable that the value of the out-put approximates $36,000,000 either 
something above or below. 

The kinds of goods manufactured are merchant bar, hoop, band, boiler plate, 
tank and sheet iron, wrought iron pipe and boiler tubes, railroad spikes, nails and 
tacks, horse shoes, galvanized sheet iron, and light plates, skelp iron, axles, rail- 
road specialties, bridge rods, angles, and peculiar shapes. 

The making of 

Steel in Allegheny County 

is a triumph of the Pittsburgh manufacturer. On this claim "Pittsburgh and 
Allegheny in the Centennial Year" (1876) says: 

" The progress of this industry at Pittsburgh is full of triumphs, not only over 
the difficulties of its production, but over foreign manufactories in the quality of 
the product. If republics were grateful, or it was in the old Koman days, when 
civic wreaths were voted as marks of distinction and compliment to public bene- 
factors, Pittsburgh steel manufacturers would be thus decorated. For here and by 
them has, in the establishment of the manufacture of steel, a great industrial and 
commercial victory been won. By their pluck, perseverance and business acumen 
the country has been emancipated from dependence upon foreign steel makers 
and placed in an independent position, so far as the supply of that article is in 
question, whether for the arts and usages of peace or the sterner demands for 
national defence." 

And further, in "Pittsburgh's Industries, Progress and Resources " (1886), is 
said : 

" The effort to make fine crucible tool steel had about been abandoned in the 
United States, when Pittsburgh manufacturers achieved a success and produced 



152 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

an article with which they were able to enter the market in successful competi- 
tion with English makers. To-day Pittsburgh steel is the steel of the American 
market." 

The effort to make steel seems to have been, early in the history of the country, 
made in the American colonies. In 1655 John Fricker, of Southold, Long Island, 
informed the general court of New Haven of his intention to make steel if he 
may have some things granted him. In 1782 James Higley, of Sunbury, and 
Joseph Dewey, of Hebrac, Connecticut, represented at the Legislature of that 
State that they had found a way to transmute iron into steel, asking an exclusive 
right, and obtained a patent from the State for ten years. In October, 1740, the 
Connecticut Legislature granted Messrs. Fitch, Walker & Wyllys the sole privi- 
lege of making steel for fifteen years. Previous to 1750 Aaron Elliot owned a 
steel furnace at Killingsworth, Connecticut. In 1750 Massachusetts had one steel 
furnace, and Pennsylvania had two at Philadelphia. There was one also in New 
Jersey, and one in Chester county. Pa. In 1787 the making of steel was carried 
on in Easton, Mass., by Eliphalet Leonard. In 1776 Peter Townsend produced 
the first steel made in the State of New York. At Amenia steel was made in 
Dutchess county, N. Y., for the Continental army, and also in Trenton, N. J., and 
steel bayonets were made at Elkton, Cecil county, Md. In 1791 Alexander Ham- 
ilton, in his celebrated report, states that "steel is a branch which has already 
made considerable progress." In the same year French Coxe stated that about 
one-half the steel used in the United States is home made. In 1805 there were 
two steel furnaces in Pennsylvania, producing annually 150 tons of steel. In 1810 
there were 917 tons of steel made in the whole country, of which Pennsylvania 
produced 531 tons in five furnaces. In 1813 Tuper & McKowan had a steel 
furnace at Pittsburgh, which was the first at Pittsburgh, although at Bridgeport, 
adjoining Brownsville, Fayette county, there was in 1811 a steel furnace known as 
the Brownsville Steel Factory, carried on by Truman & Co. For the foregoing 
data in relation to the early efforts to make steel in the United States the writer 
is indebted to " Swank's Iron in All Ages," a comprehensive and valuable work, 
written with great care. 

The steel produced in the establishments quoted was of the grade called blister 
or German steel. Although, as previously mentioned, there was a steel works at 
Pittsburgh as early as 1813, there are no records of any production of what 
would then be called steel there, or mention of any attempt to make it, although, 
possibly, some experiment may have been made. Whatever steel was produced 
by Tuper &. McKowan was probably a low grade of blister steel. Of the steel 
factory at Brownsville, Wm. Darby, in an " Emigrant Guide," published in 1778, 
says: 

" At Brownsville many years past a steel factory has been established, which 
has been a success." 

Of the early manufacture of steel at Pittsburgh, the following extract from 
"Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the Centennial Year" says: 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 153 

" The introduction of blister steel made at Pittsburgh was attended with con- 
siderable difBculty. Consumers could not be made to believe that the blister steel 
■of Pittsburgh was in any way equal to that brought across the Atlantic, although 
expert workmen were sent to visit consumers to prove to them the fact. It was 
only after Pittsburgh blister steel, which had been rusted by throwing salt water 
over it, so as to make it appear of English manufacture, was sold to consumers 
that it was found to be all that could be desired." 

The gradual progress of making steel at Pittsburgh is so fully told in the sub- 
joined extract from Pittsburgh's Progress, Industries and Kesourses (1886), that 
it is here quoted in preference to a recapitulation of the same facts. 

"In 1841 Patrick and James Dunn began making steel for J. H. Shoenberger. 
The works erected by them had some twenty holes or furnaces but six only were 
used steadily. The enterprise was abandoned in the course of a year or so. Some- 
where about this date a firm under the style of Tingle & Sugden began making 
cast steel on a small scale for their own use in manufacturing files, in which they 

were engaged. In 1845 Isaac Jones and Quigg, under the firm style of Jones 

& Quigg, built the Pittsburgh Steel Works and began the manufacture of blister 
spring and plow steel, in which line Coleman, Hailman & Co. at the same date 
embarked in the business. 

" From about 1844 most of the iron manufacturers of Pittsburgh made blister 
and plow steel, but Coleman, Hailman & Co. and Jones & Quigg were the only 
two establishments that could then be classified as " steel works." These establish- 
ments in making cast steel, although producing it to a considerable extent, failed 
to make a first class article. The isolation of Pittsburgh from labor skilled in 
that line of treating metals and various other difficulties, made the production of 
a bar of good quality more the result of accident than skill. Though the pro- 
ducers of steel and for a considerable period alterward made occasional batches 
which nearly approached a first-class grade, the chief quality of a good article, re- 
liability, was wanting. That quality is now the great characteristic of Pittsburgh 
steel. 

"In 1848 a new firm. Singer, Nimick & Co., now among the heaviest steel pro- 
ducers of Pittsburgh, was formed for the production of blister spring and German 
steel, and in 1853 turned their attention to the making of cast steel, for saws and 
agricultural purposes, and having largely increased their works began the manu- 
facture of the finer grades of steel. 

"A year previous to this, however, the firm of McKelvy & Blair, which retired 
from the business in 1854, made hammered and rolled steel, and introduced it into 
the eastern markets. This firm was formed in 1850 to make files on a large scale, 
and began the making of steel for their own file works, but, as stated, in 1854 en- 
tered the field as makers of hammered and rolled steel for the general trade, and 
retired from financial causes in 1854. 

" Two years after, when Singer, Nimick & Co began the production of the finer 
grades of cast steel, Isaac Jones, the successor of Jones & Quigg, also commenced 
making it. From 1851 up to 1860 the manufacture for the higher grades of cast 
steel for saws, machinery and agricultural purposes, occupied the attention of the 
Pittsburgh steel manufacturers. Although in these classes of steel great success was 
attained and a reputation for those steels made for Pittsburgh, yet the conviction 
was strong among the firms carrying on the business that a yet higher standard 
was to be attained, and Pittsburgh becomes a formidable rival in edge tool steel to 
the English manufacture. This feeling led to the formation in 1860 of the firm of 
Hussey, Wells & Co., now Hussey, Howe & Co., for the express purpose of manu- 
facturing cast steel for edge tool purposes; (this firm became, in 1888, Brown, 



154 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Howe & Co.) ; and the firm of Singer, Nimick & Co. at that date turned a part of 
their force of steel maimers into the same direction. In 1862 the firm of Park 
Brothers & Co. was formed for the same object, which firm has continued in the 
same line and style until recently, when it became Park Brothers & Co., Limited. 
These were followed in 1865 by Barr & Parkin, now Miller, Metcalf & Parkin, 
manufacturers of high grades of tool steel. The results have been a complete vic- 
tory of the Pittsburgh steel manufacturers over foreign makers, and to-day Pitts- 
burgh steel is the standard of the market, and has supplanted that of English 
make in the edge tool factories of the United States. The very best qualities of 
English tool and cutlery steel being more than equalled by that produced in the 
steel works of Pittsburgli. 

" To what yet higher perfection the making of steel under the use of gas fuel 
will be brought, under the enterprise and ambition of Pittsburgh steel manufac- 
turers, is yet in the future. When such success as has been recorded has been 
achieved in the past, what may not be reasonably expected in the future. What- 
ever higher qualities are attainable in steel the past is a guarantee that they will 
be put into its composition by the skill and perseverance of Pittsburgh's manufac- 
turers. 

"In the 34 years since the effort was made to manufacture cast steel in the 
United States to any extent, the facts show that our manufacturers have secured 
nearly all of the American market, and that the quality and finish of American 
steel is conceded to be fully equal to any imported. In the article of homogenous 
crucible cast steel boiler and fire plate, that made by the Pittsburgh manufac- 
turers is unequalled. Shipments of this description of steel that have been made 
from Pittsburgh to railroad companies and steam boiler manufacturers across the 
Atlantic, has been pronounced superior in every respect to any produced in Eu- 
rope." 

The making of various qualities of various grades of steel, other than crucible, 
has become part of the business of a large proportion of the rolling mills. It 
would make but a perplexing tangle of dates and names to indicate by what iron 
making firms, and just when, the manufacture of steel was by them made a feature 
of their business, and a geneology of the firms would be almost a repetition of 
those previously recorded of the iron firms. The style of the firms who were 
pioneers in steel manufacturing having already been mentioned in the extract 
quoted from the publi^'ation of 1886. 

In addition to the crucible steel works already noticed, in 1882 Anderson, 
Dupuy & Co. built the Pittsburgh Steel Works for making that description of 
steel, also the Linden Steel Co., Limited, a steel v-^orks the same year, and the 
Sterling Steel Co., Limited, a plant about 1884. 

In the progress of steel manufacturing in Pittsburgh the low duties on steel 
were great discouragements ; and even with the amendments that had been made 
from time to time it is questionable if, without the accidental high tariff produced 
by the increased rates of gold during the war, the manufacturers of edge-tool steel 
would have succeeded. The fact suggests the natural inquiry : If the country af- 
fords the material that produces steel that has nothing to fear by comparison with 
the best sent from English works, and if, in attaining that point, labor has alsa 
been educated to a degree of skill that insures such success, why not give Ameri- 
can manufacturers the benefit of the American market, and the ores of the country 



IRON AM) IbTEEL TRADE. 155 

the advantages of further experiments among the great variety existing? Is there 
any reason why the art of steel making, having through numerous difficulties be- 
come one of the fixed facts belonging to the resources of the nation, should not be- 
encouraged to greater efforts ? 

Our legislators if they would find the policy best adapted to spread prosperity'^ 
over the land, should carefully take up the histories of the industrial pursuits o 
the American people, and learn how the fostering of them by protection has de- 
veloped the resources of the nation, and given employment and homes to the peo- 
ple. Not only that will be found, but that in all cases the result of home compe- 
tition has been to reduce the cost to the consumer of those articles where protec- 
tion against foreign manufacturers has been accorded. Cast steel is an instance^ 
and in proof of this fact Pittsburgh steel is being furnished of equal qualities to 
English steel at rates much below what was formerly paid for the foreign article. 

There are now in Pittsburgh 23 steel works, of which 8 are strictly crucible 
tool steel works. The reported capacity of all of them for the production of steel 
is given at 215,700 tons. As this virtually agrees with the returns of the same 
mills to the American Iron and Steel Association, it is probably correct. This is 
exclusive of the Bessemer plants and rail mills and the steel casting works. 

The complete statistics of this class of Pittsburgh industries cannot be here 
given, from a reasonable and natural reluctance to open up the details of their 
business to be found elsewhere as well as at Pittsburgh. From such data as could 
be obtained the figures of the estimates are given. In the matter of the product 
of crucible steel figures given show that in round numbers about 48,000 net tons- 
are turned out, the capacity reported being 102,000 tons. By the statistics collated 
from the steel manufacturers by the American Iron and Steel Association 42,139 
net tons of crucible steel ingots is given as the output of 1885, which probably 
amount closely to 50,000 tons in 1888. In that, as in the data collated for this- 
volume, there were probably declinations to furnish information. In either case 
it is fair to assume that the product given is below the actuality, although it 
necessarily varies with the condition of trade from year to year, and the capacity 
of the works is the best factor for their possible output of steel. The fluctuations- 
are shown by the following figures from a report of the American Iron and Steel 
Association, before cited, and may be the result of varying conditions of trade, or 
the reluctance before noted to give details of business. From that report it would 
appear that the make of crucible steel ingots Avas for 

27,866 tons. 
40,142 " 
52,136 " 
61,256 " 

From this it would appear there was a steady increase for nine years of the 
twelve cited, in which time there was an increase of nearly 250 per cent. In the 
two succeeding years a decline of not quite 3 per cent., and in the succeeding year 
a decrease of nearly 33 per cent., a showing of decline of output hardly attributa- 



1874, . . 17,915 tons. 1878, 

1875, . . 22,942 " 1879, 

1876, . . 25,009 " 1880, 

1877, . . 24,747 " 1881, 



1882, . 


. 59,596 tons 


1883, . 


. 59,128 " 


1884, . 


. 38,885 " 


1885, . 


. 42,139 " 



156 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

•ble to trade fluctuations, and more probably caused by incomplete returns. By 
this notably the statistics of the output for 1885, as collated at that date, are 
dwarfed, but as they are in reasonable sympathy with those of the Iron and Steel 
Association report, it is to be assumed that the same causes work in its data. 
"These statistics, it will be noted, are only those of crucible steel. A report of Mr. 
"Gilbert Follansbee to the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department gives 
•the whole product of steel at Pittsburgh in 1882 at 211,417 tons, of which 139,073 
•tons were steel rails and 73,344 tons other forms of steel, and the value of the 
-product for that year is named at $18,378,836. 

The reluctance from fear of exposure of details of private business, as before 
-noted, to furnish the data, prevents absolute data of the values of the output of 
1888. Taking, however, the 48,000 tons of crucible steel as previously named, the 
value would be at present rates from $8,000,000 to $8,500,000, and proportionately 
rgreater as the actual output is to the approximate data obtained, of crucible 
«teel only. 

In the tabulated list of steel works and rolling mills producing steel there are 
-several whose statistics of hands employed, wages, area, value of plant, etc., are 
included in the data of the iron rolling mills, and should not be here repeated. 
"There are in the exclusively steel producing works now at Pittsburgh, whose 
statistics are not included in those of the iron mills, an average of 4,500 hands 
employed, whose wages will average from $3,500,000 to $4,000,000 a year. The 
:area of ground covered by these strictly steel works is about 65 acres, and the 
•value of the plants, viz.; ground, building and machinery, is estimated at between 
$6,000,000 and $7,000,000. 

It is difficult to compress into the few pages that can be spared in this condensed 
sketch of AUeglieny county's hundred years the full history of its experiments in 
-steel making. Of the triumphs in crucible steel enough has been stated, briefly as 
•it has been done, to inform the reader of its growth and its present status. 

It has not, however, in crucible steels alone that great strides have been made 
in the manufacture of steel in Allegheny county. In Bessemer steel great progress 
has been made, and a large output reached. There are now in Pittsburgh the fol- 
lowing establishments having Bessemer steel works erected in the order of their 
naming : — 

Edgar Thomson Steel Works, first blow 1875 ; Carnegie, Phipps & Co., first 
blow 1881 ; Pittsburgh Steel Casting Co., first blow 1881; Oliver Bros. & Phillips, 
<first blow 1884: Jones & Laughlins, 1886; Shoenberger & Co., 1886. The entire 
product at the present time is about 400,000 tons. 

The growth and the present bulk of the steel product of Pittsburgh seems al- 
oiost incredible when we recall how but a few years since the steel of the Pitts- 
t)urgh mills was struggling for a recognition even among the mechanics of the 
-city. Sufficient has herein been written to enable a satisfactory idea of the pro- 
gress to be had, and an opinion to be formed as to Pittsburgh's greatness in the fu- 
ture as a steel producing center. Its present value in all its departments of steel 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 



15; 



manufacture is from $22,000,000 to $25,000,000, and might possibly sum up yet 
more if full statistics could be had. 

As mentioned in the pages of the general history of the county, the first step 
in the direction of making the famous* iron manufacturing center it is, was the 
building of the blast furnace of 1792. It seems singular that over sixty years 
should have elapsed before another blast furnace was erected in the county ; since 
then, 

Blast Furnaces 

have become a prominent feature in the progress in iron making in Allegheny 
county. The development of the Connellsville coke region, elsewhere exhibited, 
has had much to do with this, while in reaction the growth of the blast furnace 
industry has stimulated the making of coke. This is illustrative of how compre- 
hensive accumulations of resources at any point creates aggregations of power, and 
forcibly presents the position before taken, that in eighty years Pittsburgh has 
developed so powerful and varied manufacturing powers as to render her impreg- 
nable as a controller of the market, even if at a future day some other location 
with as great manufacturing resource should be found. From the very aggregation 
of facilities and resources Pittsburgh has acquired her magnetic force will increase, 
while another location of similar natural force, if any there be, must be long years 
accumulating Pittsburgh's present facilities, during which it must be compounding 
upon its powers. 

There are now at Pittsburgh the following blast furnaces : 



Built. 


Names, 


Owned by. 


1859, 


Clinton, 


Graff, Bennett & Co., 


1861, 


Eliza No. 1, 


Laughlins & Co., 


1861, 


Eliza No. 2, 


Laughlins & Co., 


1862, 


Edith, 


National Tube Co., 


1865, 


Shoenberger, No. 1, 


Shoenberger, Speer & Co., 


1865, 


Shoenbei'ger, No. 2, 


Shoenberger, Speer & Co., 


1872, 


Isabella No. 1, 


Isabella Furnace Co., 


1872, 


Isabella No. 2, 


Isabella Furnace Co., 


1872, 


Soho, 


Moorhead, McCleane Co., 


1872, 


Lucy No. 1, 


Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Ltd, 


1877, 


Lucy No. 2, 


Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Ltd, 


1879, 


A, 


Carnegie Bros. & Co., Ltd, 


1879, 


B, 


« u u 


1879, 


c, 


« « u 


1881, 


D, 


il ii ii 


1881, 


E, 


(i Ii u 


1883, 


Carrie, 


Pittsburgh Furnace Co., 


1886, 


F, 


Carnegie Bros. & Co., Ltd, 


1886, 


Eliza No. 3, 


Laughlins & Co., 


1887, 


G, 


Carnegie Bros. & Co., Ltd, 



igtt. 


Bosh. 


Capacity- 
Net tons. 


45 


12 




15,000 


60 
60 


17 
14 


} 


60,000- 


70 


16 




35,000 


62 
62 


131 
13i 


} 


48,000 


75 

75 


18 
20 


} 


130,000 


65 


19 




40,000 


87 
87 


20 
20 


} 


130,000^ 


65 


13 




25,000 


80 


20 




55,000 


80 


20 




55,000 


85 


20 




57,500 


85 


20 




57,500 


70 


18 




40,000 


85 


20 




67,500 


60 


17 




30,000 


85 


20 




57,500- 



158 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

From this it will be noted that where in 1859-61 the capacity for pig iron pro- 
<I action at Pittsburgh was 75,000 tons, it had increased in 1886 to 835,000 tons, or 
over one thousand per cent. Of that, in the four years from 1861 to 1865, the in- 
crease was about 65 per cent. In the seven years from 1865 to 1872 there was an 
increase in seven years on the capacity of 1865 of about 214 per cent., and on the 
capacity of 1871 of 350 per cent. In the seven years from 1872 to 1879 the in- 
crease on the capacity of 1872 was about 60 per cent., and on that of 1861 of 600 
per cent. In the seven years from 1879 to 1886 the increase on the capacity was 
about 40 per cent., and on that of 1861 over 1,000 per cent. In these increases in 
capacity in septuple periods it should not be overlooked that the percentages are 
calculated at each recurrence on immensely increased multiplicands indicating 
great activity when such large percentages are continued on continuously increas- 
ing capacities. 

There are also, having offices at Pittsburgh but the furnaces in the vicinage, 
the following additional furnaces, which are virtually a portion of the blast fur- 
nace business of the city : 

Capacity, 
Built. Name. Owned by Height. Bosh. Net tons. 

-1 0^70 n\ ^ 4-i. f Charlotte Furnace Co., Limited, ") nr- -,/>i oo nr>n 

1872. Charlotte, | Office, Lewis Block. | ^^ ^^^ ^2,000 

1876. Oliphant, Fayette Coke and Furnace Co., 50 9,000 

1876. Lemont, E. Hogsett & Co., 65 ...... 14,000 

1880. Dunbar, No. 1, "» -p. ^ -n, ^ 77 \ .^ ^^^ 

1880. Dunbar,No.2;|^^^°^^^'^^^"^^^^«°^P^^^' 78 | 52,000 

These add a further capacity of 97,000 tons, making the total capacity of what 
may be classed as Pittsburgh's out-put of pig iron — 922,000 tons. 

Less than fifty years ago the American blast furnace making from six to ten 
tons a day was doing good work. What a contrast between that and 303 tons a 
day as some of the furnaces at Pittsburgh have done. 

There is a branch of the steel mannfacture, and to a certain extent connected 
with both the blast furnace and foundry business, that although of later origin 
than other classes of industries, find its proper mention at this point ; the more 
especially that from the casting of a solid steel cannon by one of the .establish- 
ments, it may possibly become a factor in inducing the location of a governmental 
cannon foundry in Allegheny county. 

The cannon alluded to in the previous paragraph was a 

Steel Casting. 

The making of steel castings from crucible steel at Pittsburgh was established 
in 1871, by the Pittsburgh Steel Casting Co., under which title the works stiU 
continue. The establishment furnished a part of the work for the celebrated 
Davis Island Dam, and at their own cost cast and finished a steel cannon for the 
purpose of convincing the government that the steel manufacturers of Pittsburgh 
have the ability to compete with European makers of heavy cast steel guns. This 
was the first attempt to make a high power rifled steel gun, although some small 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 159 

steel guns had been made some twenty years since by Singer, Nimick & Co. High 
power means the force to drive the misile 2,000 feet per second. In the making 
of this cannon 17,000 pounds of Bessemer metal was used, and when rough turned 
and bored, weighed 10,600 pounds. The cannon was sent to Washington, D. C, to 
be rifled and fitted with a breech-loading apparatus, all of which could be done at 
Pittsburgh as well as it is done at Krupp's celebrated cannon works in Germany. 
In a communication on this subject to the Ordnance Commission, this firm says: 

"Let the government offer three prizes, large enough to enlist the confidence of 
manufacturers, to be given to those who succeed in making the best 6-inch cast 
steel guns, this size being within the limits of present capacity of nearly all our 
steel plants. Three prizes also for 12-inch guns, to be given to the successful com- 
petitors for the first prize. This plan would save millions of dollars to the govern- 
ment and give the best attainable results Let the guns be made according to the 
method deemed best by the manufacturers, all the guns to be submitted to the 
same destructive tests, and classed according to endurance, as 1, 2, 3. etc. There 
should be no efibrt made to keep our mechanics within the circle of the experi- 
ments of the English, German or French, but leave them free to act as they think 
best ; and in five years' time the results obtained will show a progress in the man- 
ufacture of heavy ordnance that would astonish the world." 

On this point the firm of Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co., who also make castings 
of steel, say in a communication to the same commission : 

" We propose the manufacture of a cannon of large caliber and great weight 
by the process of steel casting, by departing from the usual process of casting in a 
sand mold, substituting a case of sheet iron roughly approximating the contour of 
the gun, allowance being made for the finishing; trunnions being cast with the 
gun. The steel ingot after becoming cold will be taken to the lathe, rough bored 
and turned, and then put in an annealing furnace and thoroughly annealed. By 
thoroughly annealing such casting a remarkable change is effected in the structure 
of the material ; what was a coarse, open grain becomes a fine, silky one, equal to 
good hammered steel, and its toughness will be vastly increased. By this mode of 
manufacture the cost of a large gun will be reduced very much below that of a 
coiled or forged gun, and we claim it will be fully equal in strength and soundness." 

The genealogy of this latter firm is more properly given in the historic resume 
of the foundries of Allegheny county. To a better understanding of the general 
reader of the ability of the steel works of Allegheny county in its centennial 
year, and as the best expression that can be made as to the capabilities of its steel 
mills, the following opinions of some of its most prominent manufacturers are 
quoted, being extracts from letters to the Ordnance Commission : 

Singer, Nimick & Co. say : 

" We can roll a plate of steel 78 inches wide, 6 inches thick and 12 feet long. 
The daily capacity of this train of rolls, 24 hours, on plates that size, would be 
about fifty tons." 

The Spang Steel & Iron Co. say : 

" In reply to your inquiry as to the capacity of our mill to produce armor 
plates, we are pleased to say that quickly we could supply plates — say at the rate 
of 50 to 75 tons daily, 15 to 18 inches thick, 96 to 100 inches wide, and say 30 to 
40 feet long." 



160 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Shoenberger & Co. say: 

"In reply to your inquiry as to the capacity of our large plate mill, we would 
say that our rolls are 112 inches long by 31 inches in diameter, and that we can 
roll plates 100 inches wide by 200 inches long, and turn out 100 tons per day. 
Should the government desire armor plates, we can roll them from a steel ingot 32 
inches thick down to any thickness desired." 

The following offer was submitted to the Commission by Moorhead & Co., of 

this city : 

" We are prepared to furnish immediately, or within one month from receipt 
of order, plate wholly of charcoal hammered bloom iron, or of steel, homogenous 
in character, or of combined hard and soft steel, as may be required, say up to 7J 
feet in width and 12 inches in thickness, and in weight up to 30,000 pounds each. 
We are now prepared to deliver 50 tons of plate of the above sizes per day." 

Jones & Laughlin, Limited, in a statement through Mr. B. F. Jones, the senior 

member, say : 

" In my judgment there is no better place in the United States to make armor 
plates and ordnance than Pittsburgh. The best materials in the country and the 
most skillful mechanics in the world are attracted here. I have examined Krupp's 
and other celebrated ordnance and armor-plate works abroad, and I do not hesi- 
tate to say that they cannot only be matched, but can be surpassed." 

The Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company, now Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Lim- 
ited, says: 

"The plate mill we are noAV building will contain a train that will roll plates 
about 9} feet wide and any reasonable length. As to thickness, it will take an in- 
got 14 inches thick and reduce it to any thickness down to I inch. Capacity per 
day, 100 tons." 

Park Bros. & Co. made the following reply : 

"We can cast an ingot weighing 30 tons, and can work such ingot under our 
hammer. Our mill has rolls 115 inches long, and we can finish plates, say | to §- 
inch in thickness, 104 inches wide, and say 30 or 40 feet long." 

The Pittsburgh Steel Casting Company submit the following with regard to 
their capacity : 

"We can successfully cast a gun ingot of steel up to 100 tons weight, that 
would meet all requirements fully as well as any of foreign make. This would 
require a longer time than the casting of the 44-ton ingot, which we affirmed 
could be completed by the 1st of July, 1886, but it could be done within a year. 
The largest casting made to this date at our works is 18,000 pounds, and as to 
largest size it is only a question of dollars and cents." 

In these pages, intended merely as a running history of the manufacturing pro- 
gress of Allegheny county during its hundred years of existence, only its represen- 
tive classes are presented at length, as illustrative of the progress made. To men- 
tion all of the ramifications into which the manufacturing of iron and steel run, 
would render this volume simply a trade catalogue, instead of a general history. 
There are however some of Pittsburgh's manufacturers that are in themselves 
such exemplifications of progress and the present status of the industries of the- 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 161 

county, that they call for brief mention. Prominent among these is the great 
steel rail mill at Braddock, known as the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, some 
mention of which has already been made in the preceding pages. 

The above named works for the production of steel rails is a specialty among 
the steel works of Pittsburgh, being constructed and worked solely for the making 
of rails. They are situated at Bessemer, eleven miles east of Pittsburgh, and are 
connected with the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, with the Pittsburgh 
division of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and the main line of the Pittsburgh, 
McKeesport and Youghiogheny railroad. Through these connections they com- 
mand for transportation facilities the entire railroad system west and south, while 
the Monongahela river, on which the company's grounds front for 3000 feet, gives 
facilities for water carriage to and from its very doors over the whole Ohio and 
Mississippi system of navigation. In their location these works are a most ad- 
mirable illustration of those receptive and distributive facilities enjoyed by Pitts- 
burgh manufactories. 

The capacity of furnaces now running is 900 tons of pig metal ; and of the steel 
department, 900 tons of ingots, and 700 tons of rails per twenty-four hours. The 
works employ 2500 hands. Seventeen locomotives are required to do the yard 
transportation of the entire works. There are twenty-eight miles of railroad track, 
mostly of standard gauge. The amount of ground covered by buildings is almost 
eleven acres. Entire works require fifteen million gallons of water every twenty- 
four hours. 

Likewise an establishment for the making of elliptic and spiral steel springs^ 
These works were originally started in this city by Mr. Aaron French in 1865, in a 
small shop on Liberty street, opposite the Union depot. Some years later a part- 
nership was formed by Mr. French with Mr. Calvin Wells, under the firm name 
of A. French & Co. That firm continued the manufacture of elliptic railway 
springs only until July 24, 1884. The Culmer Spring Co. was started in 1873 for* 
the purpose of manufacturing spiral springs, and they continued the business until 
April, 1881, when they were bought out by the parties who'formed the French 
Spiral Spring Co., Limited. This company continued until July 24th, 1884, when 
they formed the company of the A. French Spring Co., Limited, the earlier com- 
pany of A. French & Co. being also merged in the new company, which was 
formed to manufacture springs of all descriptions, and the present prosperous 
conditition of the works indicates that the combination was a step in the right 
direction. 

The A. French Spring Co., Limited, is at present, doubtless, the largest con- 
cern in the world engaged exclusively in the manufacture of springs. It has double 
the capacity of any similar concern in the United States, having three mills. 

The Iron Bridge Building 

business, as carried on at Pittsburgh, is also one of the massive industries of the city. 
Be it a complete blast furnace or a steel mill, an iron ship, or a 20,000 pound 
cannon, nothing to be constructed of iron draws too heavily upon the resources of 
11 



U2 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Pittsburgh, or presents obstacles to her skilful mechanics, nor is there any iron 
work of however so great magnitude whose construction they do not engage in. 
That, therefore, companies should have been formed in Pittsburgh for iron bridge 
building is not to be wondered at, nor the magnitude of the structures they build. 
There are in this city four companies and firms engaged in this industry. 

The oldest and chief of these iron bridge constructionists is the Keystone Bridge 
Company, which was established in 1860 by ShefHer & Piper, but was organized as 
a company in 1865. The magnitude of their-business and consequent facilities of 
their works is best expressed by the fact that they have constructed fifty-one miles 
of bridges, and thirty miles in the last ten years. Those who have crossed the 
bridge at St. Louis over the Mississippi, or the one at Havre de Grasse across the 
Susquehanna, built entirely of Bessemer steel, have some idea of the massive work 
done by this company, by whom these bridges were built. 

Not only has this Pittsburgh engineering ability, and capital and mechanical 
skill, thrown roads of steel across the rivers of the United States, but they have 
also arched those of foreign countries. The Keystone Bridge Company having, in 
1887, constructed ten iron bridges for the government of Brazil. 

The company employs an average of 600 hands at their works at 51st and 
Harrison streets, which have an area of between 6 and 7 acres, and an annual 
capacity of 18,000 tons finished work. The wages disbursed by them will average 
from 1360,000 to $400,000 a year, and the value of the output of the works in the 
past ten or twelve years has been over $23,000,000. 

The second in this division of this industry is the Pittsburgh Bridge Company. 
Their works, which have an area of one acre, have a capacity of 5,000 to 6,000 
tons a year, and employs 150 hands, whose wages will average $60,000 annually. 
This company has constructed some important work. One viaduct bridge of 1,200 
tons, a suspended centlever bridge over Logan avenue, St. Louis, and some bridges 
for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and furnished work for 
the new Court House of Allegheny county, of which a pictorial illustration and 
verbal description is given in this volume. 

There are two other bridge building establishments. One, the Iron City Bridge 
Works, established in 1856, by C. J. Schultz ; the other, the Sheffler Bridge Com- 
pany, J. W. Walker. 

As no statistics of the work of these last two firms could be had, the presenta- 
tion of bridge building at Pittsburgh is incomplete. What has been given, how- 
ever, show that Pittsburgh iron and steel bridge builders are prepared and able to 
bridge the rivers of the world. 

The manufacturing of 

Wrought Iron Pipe 

is also one of the more important industries of Allegheny county. In addition to 
the works at Pittsburgh, there is also at McKeesport the largest iron pipe manu- 
factory in the United States. This industry had its beginning in Allegheny county 
nearly half a century ago, when the making of wrought pipe was begun by Spang 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 163 

& Co., in 1840, which firm was succeeded in 1856 by Spang, Chalfant & Co. In 
1864 A. M. Byers & Co. established the second works of this kind. In 1866 another 
was put in operation by Evans, Clow, Dalzell & Co., who were succeeded by Evans, 
Dalzell & Co. This firm having financially failed their works passed into the 
possession of the Pennsylvania Tube Works. 

In 1871 Wm. Graff & Co. also established another tube works at Herr's Island, 
Allegheny City, these subsequently passing into the possession of Khodes & Porter 

(Joshua Rhodes and Porter), Mr. Rhodes becoming subsequently interested 

in the Pennsylvania Tube Works, which, as before stated, came into the owner- 
ship of the works of Evans, Dalzell & Co. 

In 1879 the National Tube Works were built at McKeesport by the National 
Tube Works Company. In 1884 the Continental Tube Works Company built ex- 
tensive works in the Twenty-third ward of Pittsburgh, the firm style being sub- 
sequently changed to Continental Tube Works, limited. In 1885 the Pittsburgh 
Tube Works were built by the Pittsburgh Tube Company. 

The facilities at Pittsburgh for manufacturing this article are not approachable 
at any other point. That covers the subject without further words, as a considera- 
tion of the facts given in the various remarks in this volume as to the iron, steel 
and fuel resources of the city demonstrates. Iron tubing from ^ inch to 16 inches 
in diameter is made at all the mills engaged in this class of manufactures, and 
two-thirds of all the iron tubing made in the Middle States is the product of the 
tube works of Allegheny county. 

This class of manufactures in Pittsburgh is in advance of the quality and 
mechanism of any of their product in any other part of the world, not excepting 
England. Orders for the products of these works are filled in sharp competition 
with the bids of European plants, large quantities being lately shipped to Russia 
and also Canada, at which point Pittsburgh makers are not only able to pay the 
duties, but still undersell the English houses. 

The capacity of these six mills is about 180,000 tons, and the area of ground 
occupied by them approximates fifteen acres, and the value of the plants is esti- 
mated at $4,000,000. They employ an average of 2,500 hands running full, which 
they are now doing up to their capacity, and distribute wages to the amount of 
between $1,200,000 and $1,400,000. The value of the output of these mills is from 
$8,000,000 to $9,000,000. 

Bolts and Nuts 

is another important branch of the iron business of Pittsburgh ; there are in the 
city seven factories. The manufacture of these articles originated in Pittsburgh. 

In 1845 or 1846 William Kenyon, of Steubenville, Ohio, invented a machine 
for cutting and pressing a nut at one operation; the right of which invention 
was purchased by Haigh, Hartupee & Co. from him in 1850, who then applied as 
his assignees for a patent, which was granted shortly after. Some period after 
the time mentioned as the date of Kenyon's invention Isaac H. Steer constructed 
dies for a similar purpose. 



164 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

In the spring of 1850 the first machine for that purpose was built by Henrjr 
Carter and James Kees. Henry Carter then purchased the right of Isaac H. 
Steer, and obtained letters patent, both on the invention of Steer and of Carter 
& Eees. 

In April, 1856, James Kees disposed of his interest in the manufacture tO' 
Henry Carter, who at the same time formed a co-partnership with Charles Knap, 
then of the Fort Pitt Foundry, under the style of Knap & Carter, Charles Knap 
having purchased one-half of the patent for the territory west of the Allegheny 
Mountains. On the 1st of January, 1857, they associated with them John W. 
Butler, the style of the firm being Knap, Carter & Co., from which firm the 
Standard Nut Company proceeds. 

In 1863 Lewis, Oliver & Phillips established the second of these works in Pitts- 
burgh ; in 1871 the Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company another ; in 1875 Charles. 
& McMurtry another, which firm subsequently became Wm. Charles & Co. In 
1876 F. M. Haslet & Co. embarked in the business, the firm being succeeded by 
Charles B. Head, and in 1882 Marland & Neely, subsequently Marland, Neely & 
Co., limited. 

These manufacture all descriptions of bolts and nuts, and employ, running full, 
about 600 hands, whose wages amount to something over $300,000. The workg 
occupy over four acres of ground, and the value of the plants in buildings, ma* 
chinery and ground is estimated to be from |400,000 to |450,000. One of these 
firms, Oliver Bros. & Phillips, however, employ a larger proportion of their hands 
in the manufacture of heavy hardware. 

The others produce bolts and nuts exclusively, except the Pittsburgh Manufac- 
turing Company, who manufacture besides bolts a variety of specialties of iron 
and make a specialty of making nail and spike machines. 

As everyone knows what bolts and nuts are and their use, nothing descriptive 
is required to be said. Wherever construction work is being done these useful 
products of Allegheny county's manufactures are doing their share of the work in 
the world's progress. There is much food for thought in the facts, that even this 
condensed exhibit of Allegheny county's industries present, in the reflections that 
naturally arise as to the important part their products are playing in the progress 
of the whole country, and the great supply point the county is for the nation. It 
is most diflicult to realize that it is but a hundred years since the whole value of 
the county's manufacturing products was tiiumphantly announced at $350,000, 
and that they are now, in fact, approaching as many millions, and the mental 
question naturally arises, what will be their bulk when Allegheny county cele- 
brates its duo-centennial ? 

The making of Axes, Shovels, Sav^^s and other iron tools is likewise a prom- 
inent division of the manufacturing products of Pittsburgh, and so far as the two- 
former articles are in question, their production dates back to the beginning of 
the century and William Porter. As early as 1803, "augers, chisels, planing bits^ 
drawing-knives, etc.," to the value of $1,000 are mentioned in "A View of the 
Manufacturing Trade of Pittsburgh" in Oi^amer's Almanack of 1804, and in 1808 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 165 

in a similar enumeration, "Ironmongery," as the term then was for axes, ham- 
mers, hoes, and such articles, is mentioned as being produced to the value of 
$15,000, and in an account of the manufacturers of the city in 1817, "collected by 
-direction of the Councils," there are six tool-makers recorded, producing |63,100 
worth of tools and employing eighteen hands. 

In 1836, Lippincott & Bros, and Kings, Higby & Anderson manufactured 8,000 
dozen shovels and spades, 1,600 dozen hoes, and 600 dozen saws, and Oren Waters, 
on Chartiers creek, and Ephriam Estep, at Lawrence ville, in the same year, made 
axes, shovels and spades to the amount of $90,000. In 1856 there were four firms 
in this branch of the county's industries, who used $440,006 of materials, and 
paid wages to the amount of $231,660, and produced 100,590 dozens of axes, 
shovels, hoes, picks and mattocks, of a value of $823,742. 

In that year J. Holmes & Co., who were the successors of J. Holmes, who 
established the business in 1840, was the oldest firm, and Postley, Nelson & Co., 
ivho succeeded Nelson & Morgan, established in 1843, were the next oldest. New- 
'meyer & Graff, who succeeded Dawson, Newmeyer & Co., established in 1854, and 
Lippincott & Co., established in 1847, were the other two. Of this latter firm the 
^rm of Hubbard & Co. is the direct successor through several changes of firms, 
vthe other firms having died and left no " sign." 

There are now eight extensive manufacturing plants for the making of what 
may be technically classified as " tools," although there are several others making 
special articles in a limited way, some of which are noted in these pages under 
the special heads, or are products of works whose main business is of other classes. 

The establishments which follow the business distinctively employ over 1,000 
liands, to whom they pay annually an average of from $500,000 to $550,000 wages, 
;and their products are of the value of about $1,500,000. 

For the mechanics of Pittsburgh to build the engines, to make the rolls, to 
forge the beams or girders, or do any or all of the separate details of an iron plant 
has been for years among their avocations, but it remained for the later years of 
•the development of the county to grow establishments which would produce a 
blast furnace or steel plant complete in all its magnitude and all details as readily 
as in former years any one essential to its construction. While, as before observed, 
there have been, as there are now, establishments in Pittsburgh whose facilities 
for the production of the various machinery or forged materials of furnaces and 
iron and steel plants are of great magnitude, yet there are now several establish- 
iments whose specialty is to manufacture, if that term may be used, as a whole, 
blast furnaces, iron and steel plants, and deliver them over to their proprietors in 
running condition and order with as much comparative ease as though it were a 
cooking stove. This branch of business was established at Pittsburgh in 1876 by 
James P. Witherow. The statistics, as a whole, of this industry are not to be col- 
lected, for various reasons. Its bulk is partly shown by the statement that the 
•one firm by whom the business was originated in Pittsburgh have transactions 
^hat exceed $1,000,000 a year. 



166 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 



The Foundries of Pittsburgh 

rank next in the iron industries of the city. In this is necessarily embraced the? 
engine and machine works of Pittsburgh, as many of them have extensive foun- 
dries as component parts of their establishments. 

Somewhat of the early history of the establishment of the foundry industry of 
Pittsburgh is mentioned in the opening statements of this chapter on the iron in- 
dustries of this city, and would be but a repetition to here recite. It is sufficient 
to say that the first iron foundry established in Pittsburgh was in 1803 by Joseph 
McClurg, of which in its general business the firm of A. Garrison & Co. is the di- 
rect successors. The famous Fort Pitt Cannon Foundry was also a constructive 
successor, as in the casting of cannon Joseph McClurg made the guns for Perry'a 
fleet in the war of 1812, and Cramer's Almanac in 1810 mentions this foundry a» 
having "lately cast seventy tons cannon balls for the United States." And the 
Fort Pitt Foundry, in the important part they took in the casting of shot and 
shell and cannon during the Civil War, were in that fairly constructive successors- 
in that product. 

The foundry was originally located on the corner of Fifth avenue and Smith- 
field street, on the lot where now stands the Custom House, and was established' 
by Joseph McClurg in 1803, In the seventy years of its existence its operations 
have been conducted by several firms, among which were Knap & Totten, Knap^ 
Wade & Co., Knap, Rudd & Co., The Knap Fort Pitt Foundry Co., Chas. Knap,, 
and Chas. Knap's Nephews. The cannon foundry is now dismantled, and the 
buildings and ground occupied by Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co. It needs but the 
government, however, to require similar service to revive it. Pittsburgh founders 
of to day are as skilful, and more so, than twenty-five years ago. 

The foundry business ranks second in the iron business of Pittsburgh in the 
amount of capital invested. The variety of their staple castings is large ; and 
there is no description of foundry work which the skill, facilities and resources of 
the firms engaged in the business does not justify them in undertaking. 

With the increase and growth of Pittsburgh in the past two decades the foun- 
dry business, as a class, had gradually sub-divided itself until its various branches,, 
which may be classified as general foundries, stove foundries, heavy machine foun- 
dries, light machine foundries, steam engines, machine shops with foundries, en- 
gine factories without foundries, engineers, iron founders, machinists, roll foundries,, 
and malleable iron foundries. 

In the gradual progress of the foundry business in Allegheny county the mak- 
ing of steam engines and other machinery became an adjunct to the operations of 
many foundries, and in like manner cupalos of greater or less capacity were added 
to the machine shops, which, therefore, renders it difficult to separate them in their 
individualities in any historic tracing of the successive establishments. In many 
cases the engine building part of the plants were eliminated from the foundry, and 
in others the foundry division of the business was disposed of to a new firm, accord- 
ing as either division of this class of the iron industry increased in volume. 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 167 

The first foundry established in the western counties of Pennsylvania was at 
Jacob's creek, in Westmoreland county, in 1790, by Turnbull & Marmie. "Mar- 
mie " was a Frenchman, a former secretary of Lafayette. The foundry was not a 
success financially, and there is a wild legend connected with it touching the fate 
of the young Frenchman. Fonder of deer hunting and other field sports than of 
business, he gave much of his time to the former, and, as the legend is told, when 
financial ruin came to the firm, Marmie, hopeless and despondent, resorted to a 
Frenchman's road out of the calamity, — suicide. R. P. Nevin, in his " Les Trois 
Eois," tells graphically of the legend thus, " calling his hounds he assembled them 
on the bridge that led to the mouth of the furnace. With whip and halloo he urged 
and scourged, driving them towards it. The pack, trembling in dismay, with wildly 
glaring eyes looked now at the fire blazing from the pit, now at the face of their 
master, then seized as seemed by the reflection of his madness, started and bouiided 
forward, straight through the scorching heat, plunged headlong into the open 
throat of the hell before them. Their tyrant tarried not behind, but with a cry, 
— the cry in wild repeat of that with which he used to cheer them in the chase — 
followed on their track, and rushing to its brink flung himself after them into the 
burning hole. The fires of the furnace died out and were never kindled again." 
Mr. Nevin gives the partners associated with Marmie in the foundry as Halker 
and Turner, two dealers in metal and hollow ware of Philadelphia. Other 
authorities give a Mr. Turnbull as Marraie's partner. The metal of the blast 
furnace, which it really was, for the making of pig metal, was used to cast pots, 
sugar kettles, and similar wares, so that the establishment appears to have been a 
blast furnace and foundry combined. It was from this foundry that Major Craig, 
while in command of Fort Pitt, ordered four hundred round shot. 

The first foundry at Pittsburgh, as before said, was at the corner of Fifth ave 
and Smithfield street, where the Post Office now stands, and called the " Pittsburgh 
Foundry," by Joseph McClurg, Joseph Smith, and John Gormley, in 1803. 

Shortly after its erection Joseph McClurg bought out his partners. Smith and 
Gormley, and with his son, Alexander McClurg, conducted the business success- 
fully until 1814. From 1814 to 1822, the foundry was owned and operated by 
McClurg & McKnight, and then by Alexander McClurg & Co. till 1830, when the 
establishment was purchased by Kingsland & Lightner, who were proprietors of the 
Jackson and Eagle foundries, the business of which was merged into that of the 
Pittsburgh foundry. From 1831 to 1836 the firm was known as Kingsland, Lightner 
& Cuddy. In 1836, Abraham Garrison obtained an interest in the business, and 
in 1840, Mr. Garrison, who was a nephew of Kingsland, and H. L. Bollman, a 
nephew of Lightner, succeeded their uncles, and associating with them H. F, 
Bollman, carried on the business under the name of Bollmans & Garrison till 
1851, when H. F. Bollman withdrew. From 1851 to 1863, the firm was Bollman & 
Garrison, and from 1863 to 1865, Bollman, Garrison & Co. In 1864, Mr. Garrison 
boueht Mr. Bollman's interest, and the present partnership of A. Garrison & Co. 
was formed January 1st, 1865. In 1826 the first contract of water pipe f>r the 



168 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

city of Pittsburgh was made with Alexander McClurg & Co., of the Pittsburgh 
foundry, and Kingsland, Lightner & Co., of the Jackson and Eagle foundries. The 
first pipe was cast 1827, and tested at a pond then to be seen between the Cathedral 
and Smithfield street. The first chilled rolls made west of the mountains, the 
manufacture of which was destined to become the great specialty of the Pittsburgh 
foundry, was cast at the Eagle foundry by Kingsland, Lightner & Co., who suc- 
ceeded Alexander McClurg & Co. in 1830. 

The next foundry was that established by Wm, Price in 1808, subsequently 
known as the Berlin Foundry. This foundry was long a land mark, because of a 
singular shaped dwelling, Mr. Price attached to it built perfectly round, giving a 
whimsical reason for so doing. Mr. Price was an Englishman, and came to Pitts- 
burgh to work at O'Hara's glass works, where, according to a letter of Isaac Craig 
quoted in the chapter on glass, he made the first attempt to make flint glass at 
Pittsburgh. This foundry has passed down in the family possession, and is now 
operated by the firm of W. G. Price & Co. In 1813, Anthony Beelen is noted in 
the accounts of that date as having a foundry. This was at what was then known 
as Sukes Run, a small creek that entered the Monongahela at or near the inter- 
section of what is now Second avenue and Try street, where the first steamboat 
was constructed. At what date Mr. Beelen put his foundry in operation is not 
definitely of record, but probably about 1809-10, and was called the Eagle Foun- 
dry. Whether this subsequently passed into the possession of Jackson & Kings- 
land, who are noted in the chronology of the first foundry as having the .Jackson 
and Eagle foundry, is not of record, but it is probable that from the title Eagle, 
being combined with that of the Jackson foundry, that firm had absorbed the 
foundry established by Mr. Beelen. 

It was in 1813-14 that the Pittsburgh foundry began the manufacture of can- 
non at Pittsburgh, and to this branch of its business the firm of Knap, Wade & 
Co. succeeded, as elsewhere noted In 1817, a firm styled Sutton & McNickle 
established a foundry in Birmingham, then a suburb of Pittsburgh. There ap- 
pears to have been several small foundries subsequent to this put in operation in 
Pittsburgh, but being somewhat in connection with the machine shops in that 
period, there is no distinction individually attached. 

In 1826, John Anthers and John Nicholson formed a co-partnership and erect- 
ed a foundry for the making of heavy machines and other castings. In 1830, they 
began the making of stoves, which they continued until 1847, when Mr. Anthers 
retired, and Mr. Nicholson continued the business until 1849, at which time he 
associated with him G. W. G. Payne under the firm style of Nicholson & Payne. 
On January 1st, Mr. Nicholson retired, selling his interest to Wm. A. Lee and F. 
S. Bissell, the firm name becoming Payne, Lee & Co. In the same year Charles 
A. Bissell, now of Cleveland, purchased the interest of Mr. Lee, and the firm name 
changed to Bissell & Co., under which partnership it was continued until 1866, 
when Chas. A. Bissell withdrew, and F. S. Bissell continued the business under the 
same firm name. On the retirement of Mr. Lee, the works known as the Eagle 



IRON AND STEEL TRADE. 169 

were abandoned and a new foundry built on the site of Bissell, Semple & Stephens 
rolling mill, mentioned in the chronology of the rolling mills. The name of Eagle 
foundry seems to have been a designation of Beelen's, Arthurs & Nicholson and 
Kingsland & Lightner's foundries. Whether this title descended through purchase 
of the whole or part of the foundries of these earlier successive firms, does not appear 
but that there was some chain of successorship is most probable, to justify the as- 
suming of the name, under which, if so, the present firm of Bissell & Co. may have 
claim to business descent from Anthony Beelen's foundry of 1809. F. S. Bissell is 
the son of John Bissell, of the Bissell, Semple & Stephens rolling mill firm, and 
has succeeded his father in some of the honorable public positions his father held. 

In 1827, Cuthbert & Co., consisting of Sterley Cuthbert, Thomas Mitchell and 
Thomas Sweeny, established a foundry, which in 1829 passed into the ownership 
of Thomas Mitchell & Co. The firm subsequently became Cuddy, Mitchell 
& Co., (James Cuddy, Thomas Mitchell and others). This firm was suc- 
ceeded by Pennock & Mitchell (Joseph Pennock), and in 1845 the style of the 
firm was Pennock, Mitchell & Co. Subsequently, John B. Herron and Nathan S. 
Hart having been admitted as partners, a new firm was organized as Mitchell, 
Herron & Co. In 1855 the firm dissolved, and a new firm was organized under 
the style of Mitchell, Stevenson & Co. (Thomas Mitchell, John B. Herron and 
William Stevenson). Mitchell & Stevenson being ultimately succeeded by Baldwin 
& Graham. Joseph Pennock and Nathan Hart organized a new firm and erected 
the Fulton Foundry. Subsequently, in 1864, John B. Herron withdrew and built 
a new stove foimdrj'^, called the Stella, from which came the firm of John B. Her- 
ron & Co., who were operating the works in 1876. In 1829, Parry, Scott & Co. 
built a foundry on Second avenue, near Boss, called the Iowa. This foundry 
passed subsequently and ultimately into the ownership of John C. Parry, until he 
finally retired from business, at which time the foundry was dismantled. 

In 1835, John Anderson established a foundry on the site of the old public 
school house which stood where the Monongahela House now is, and where, at 
about the same time, John Greer had a small foundry. Mr. Anderson afterwards 
built a new foundry at the corner of Grant and Water streets, which was known 
as the Monongahela Foundry. He subsequently associated with him his son, Wm. 
J. Anderson, under the title of John Anderson & Co. Subsequently the firm be- 
came Anderson & Phillips (W. J. Anderson and Ormsby Phillips, afterwards 
Mayor of Allegheny City, and subsequently one of the proprietors of the Pitts- 
burgh Dispatch, dying while the business manager of that paper). 

The firm of Anderson & Ormsby was succeeded by Henry Freyvogle, a former 
-clerk of Anderson & Phillips. He ultimately built a new foundry at Fifth avenue 
and Madison street, and died about the time it was completed, and the building 
was never used for foundry purposes. Some time about 1822, Wm. T. McClurg, 
who died in August, 1888, in his ninety-first year, and was a son of Joseph Mc- 
Clurg, of the first foundry, established a foundry at the corner of what is now 
Twelfth and Etna streets, known as the Franklin Foundry, which firm, about 
1836-7, became Wm. T. McClurg & Co. 



170 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

There were subsequent changes in this firm, which finally centered again in 
Wm. T. McClurg, who continued the business until about 1860, when he retired. 

In 1833, L. R. Livingstone established what was known as the Novelty Works, 
a combination of a foundry for small castings and a factory for the production of 
iron novelties, so called, such as latches, copying presses, umbrella stands and 
similar goods, among which were coffee mills, for which a trade was established, 
and they obtained distinction by the original manner in which the firm spelled 
coffee in their advertisements — "Kaughphy." This firm was succeeded by Liv- 
ingstone, Copeland & Co., and they by Morehead, Adams & Co. (J. K. Morehead, 
John Adams, Jar vis and others). The stock, patterns and good will of this com- 
pany ultimately became merged in the Jones & Nimick Manufacturing Company, 
established in 1863, which latter firm was the successor of the Variety Works, 
established in 1855 by Jones, Walingford & Co. The Jones & Nimick Manufac- 
turing Company was succeeded in 1872 by the Nimick Brittan Manufacturing 
Company; Alex. Nimick, president; Glendy S.Graham, secretary, and Arthur 
Brittan, general manager; the works having been turned into a manufactory of 
builders' hardware, bronze ware, padlocks, etc., the firm employing over 300 hands 
and occupying seven acres of ground. 

In 1837, a firm known as Rowan, Edgar & Bradley operated the Franklin 
Works, which subsequently passed into the hands of Marshall & McGreary (James 
Marshall, Henry McGreary), then to H. McGreary & Co. 

In 1846, Quin, McBride & Co. built the National Foundry, which was in 1856 
operated by D. W. Cuddy, but has now become extinct. 

In 1846, Alexander Bradley, who became in 1837 a partner in the Franklin 
Foundry, where he had as early as 1827-8 been employed as an apprentice, asso- 
ciated with him his brother Charles, and built a foundry for the manufacture of 
stoves on the bank of the Allegheny river, above Sixteenth street, and carried on 
the business under the firm name of A. Bradley & Co., which it has been ever 
since, no change being made at the death of Charles Bradley in 1848, although 
some junior partners have been admitted to the firm The business of stove man- 
ufacturing increased so rapidly that an enlargement became necessary to the works 
and the firm purchased the land at the corner of Etna and Twelfth streets, the 
site of the McClurg or Franklin Foundry, and erected the present stove works, 
known as the " Etna." 

In 1836 Robinson & Minis ( Robinson, Benjamin Minis) built the Wash- 
ington Foundry and Machine Works, for the manufacture of steam engines and 
the making of heavy castings. In 1837 the firm became Robinson, Minis & Miller, 
at which date Reuben Miller, Jr., became a partner. It was by this firm that the 
" Valley Forge," the first iron steamboat on the western rivers, Avas built. In 1854 
the firm became Robinson, Rea & Co., Wm. Rea becoming a partner, and subse- 
quently, in 1885 6, the style of the firm becoming The Robinson-Rea Manufactur- 
ing Company, imder which firm style the business is still continued in the manu- 
facturing of rolling mill machinery, heavy marine and stationary engines, and 
other heavy machinery. 



IRO]^ AMj bTEEL TRADE. 171 

In 1830 the firm of McClurg,Wade & Co. established the Fort Pitt Works, the- 
successions of which have beon previously mentioned, for the manufacturing of 
heavy rolling mill and other similar machinery. In 1844 Henry Anshutz & Co^ 
built the LaFayette Stove Foundry, in Allegheny City, which firm subsequentl^r 
became An&hutz, Bradbury & Co. 

Shortly afterwards a foundry called the Western was built by the moulders, a 
workingmen's co-operative association, which about 1850 came into the ownership- 
of Graff & Co., and subsequently the firm style became Grafifj Hugus & Co. 

In 1848 S. S. Fowler erected a foundry for the making of heavy machinery of 
all kinds, and in 1855 Pennock & Hart (Joseph Pennock, Nathan Hart) built 
the Fulton Foundry for making heavy machinery, which works, on the failure of 
Pennock & Hart, came into the ownership of Totten & Co., which latter firm stilE 
own and operate the works. 

In 1850 Eichbaum, McHenry & Co. built the Keystone Stove Works, to which^ 
previous to 1856, D. DeHaven succeeded, and subsequently he by the firm of D.. 
DeHaven & Co., limited. In 1853 Wm. Smith erected a foundry for the making 
of heavy castings. The foundry has ceased to exist, and the site and buildings are- 
occupied by the boiler works of R. Munroe & Son. 

There were in 1856 in Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities 16 foundries proper, witb 
30 cupalos and a capacity of 44,300 tons of metal. They employed 860 hands^ 
whose yearly wages averaged about |340,000, and the value of the castings pro- 
duced over $1,250,000 annually. From 1856 to 1876 there were 11 new foundries- 
established, being an increase in the twenty years of over 80 per cent. 

The same perplexity in giving the chronology of the engine and machine- 
works arises as in that of the foundries, as mentioned in the first sentences of the- 
paragraphs grouping these two industries, and the same course is consequentljr 
pursued in mentioning those establishments where the construction of machinery 
is the principal occupation and the foundry but a mechanical adjunct. 

In 1810, in a recital of the manufactures in Pittsburgh at that date, as weU as^ 
others made from 1803 to the former year, although smitheries and machinists are- 
mentioned, there is no record of steam engine works. In 1813, however, there is- 
mention of two — Stackhouse & Eodgers (Mark Stackhoiise, Mahlon Rodgers) and 
Tustin's. In 1817 two makers of steam engines are noted, employing 87 handst- 
and producing work to the value of $125,000, which were probably the same a& 
were in operation in 1813, which must have been established subsequent to 1810^, 
and quite possibly had originated from the possible field for that industry opened 
by the building of the first steamboat. In 1818 John Marshall established a ma- 
chine shop on Diamond alley, which has been continued in the family, being now 
carried on under the firm style of Marshall Bros. About 1820 Matthew Smith,, 
who came to Pittsburgh with Livingstone in 1811, had a macliine shop on Penit 
avenue, near Second street. There was also at an early date the Columbia Steams 
Company, originating with George Evans, of which Lewis Peterson, who died, 
about 1886, at the age of 90 years, was the secretary. 



172 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

This is possibly the same works mentioned as Stackhouse & Rodgers, in 1813, 
or succeeded it, as it was managed by M. Stackhouse^and M. Eodgers. These works 
constructed the machinery of the first water works at Pittsburgh, under the su- 
perintendence of George Evans. The Columbia Steam Engine Company about 
1830 passed to Warden & Benney, and afterwards to John B. Warden & Son. In 
1.820 Arthurs & Benney built what was known as the Union Works at the 
corner of First avenue and E-edoubt alley, which at a subsequent period passed 
into the possession of A. Irwin & Co. In 1828 James Nelson succeeded to the 
•steam engine and machine division of the works of Arthurs & Nicholson, they 
retaining the foundry. By him the engines of the second water works of Pitts- 
burgh were built. 

In or about 1833 a firm was organized for the manufacture of steam engines by 
James Thompson, the first superintendent of the Pittsburgh Gas Works, and 
"Samuel Stackhouse, under the firm name of Stackhouse & Thompson. These 
works finally passed into the possession of J. Tomlinson & Co., by whom the iron 
governmental revenue steamer, "Michigan," still in service on the lakes, was built, 
as noted in the chapter on boat building in this volume, also the iron frigate, called 
*he '"Allegheny." In 1834 E. & F. Faber established what was known as Faber's 
Engine Works, that firm being subsequently F. & W. M. Faber. In 1836 C. 
Kingsland established an engine works and foundry in Allegheny, at the corner of 
Lacock and Sandusky streets, which is now operated by Thomas Carlin. In 1840 
Hobert Wightman built a machine and engine shop to which James Kees succeed- 
ed in 1854, now known as the Duquesne Works, and operated by the firm of James 
JRees & Sons, mentioned in the chapter on boat building in connection with the 
construction of the first steel boats.. In 1840 W. P. Eichbaum established an en- 
fgine manufactory in Allegheny City, at Water and Middle alleys. In 1841 Joseph 
Tomlinson erected the Vulcan Works, which were merged into tho-e of Stackhouse 
-& Thompson when the firm of J. Tomlinson & Co. succeeded the latter firm. In 
1844 Hugh Wightman established the Penn Engine Works in Allegheny City, on 
Ijacock street, they subsequently passing into the proprietorship of Gibson & Rid- 
•dle. These works are now extinct. In 1847 R. Ramsey & Co. put in operation a 
machine shop on Short street, which firm subsequently became Ramsey & Renton, 
.and is now William Renton, the works being at the corner of Ferry and Water 
streets. In 1847 White, Hartupee & Co. built a large engine and machine works 
at the corner of First and Short streets. To this firm A. Hartupee succeeded and 
it ultimately became A. Hartupee & Co. By them the engines of the present 
water works of the city of Pittsburgh were made. In 1848 Cyprian Preston built 
vthe West Point Engine Works, which, after passing through several changes of 
£rm, ceased to exist. In 1854 Robert Lea established an engine and machine 
works, at the corner of First avenue and Ferry street, which he still continues. 

The chronology of the earlier engine and machine works of the city has thus 
t)een brought down to within a quarter of a century of the present date (1888)' 
Jn 1856 there were 16 machine shops, having 12 foundries attached, with a cupalo 



lEON AND STEEL TRADE. 17S: 

capacity of 23,000 tons, employing 737 hands, to whom they paid |306,802 of 
wage?, and built steam engines to the amount of |836,300. In 1775 steam engines 
were first applied to the pumping of mines and the manufacture of iron, and in 
1794, nineteen years afterwards, were in use at Pittsburgh, and about 1812 or 
eighteen years thereafter, were being manufactured there. This presents another 
fact as to the pioneer character of Allegheny county. Comment has at times been' 
made on the slowness with which Pittsburgh seemed to grow in comparison with 
other cities, when its great natural advantages are considered, but its history shows 
that if it has grown with a certain deliberate progress, it has been with great sol- 
idity, and the county of Allegheny has at all times been in the front rank in all 
the appliances for manufacturing progress, and the pioneer in many. The history 
of the establishment of the foundry and machine industries of the county might 
be followed to a greater length and to the gratification of chronological interest 
but in the number and variety of such establishments, and the various changes in 
the firms operating them, the record would become wearisome to the general 
reader and the genealogy intricate. From 1856 to 1876 there were 25 machine 
shops and foundries established in Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, being an in- 
crease of nearly eighty per cent, in the twenty years over those of the previous 
forty-five years. 

From 1876 to 1886 there were ten additional machine shops and foundries- 
built, or an increase of fifty per cent, from 1876 to 1886, making the increase on^ 
the plants of 1856 in thirty years, nearly 100 per cent. These works have a cu- 
palo capacity of something over 140,000 tons of pig metal, employ 3500 hands 
whose wages amount to |2,175,000 a year. They use an average of 125,000 tons- 
of pig metal annually. The capital invested in the buildings, grounds and ma- 
chinery, is stated at 13,940,000, and the value of their products upwards of $7 - 
000,000 a year. The making of boilers is another important branch of the iron 
business of Allegheny county. There is, however, no record of its earlier history. 
It is to be presumed that its inception was with manufacture of steam engines, be- 
cause of the necessity of a boiler as an appanage thereto. It is likewise to be pre- 
sumed, from the absence of any special mention at early dates of boiler manufac- 
turing, as a distinct business, that their making was carried on within and in con- 
nection with the engine works. It appears, however, that a firm by the style of 
McClurg & Pratt had a boiler yard, so technically called, nearly sixty years since, 
in 1830, and that Witherow Douglass established another in 1833, which was sub- 
sequently carried on by Douglass & English, and was in operation until about 
1887, under the style of W. Douglass & Sons, Witherow Douglass having died in 
1886. In 1836, J. Litch established a boiler works at what is now 13 Water 
street, which, in 1858, came into the ownership of Watson & Munroe, and in 1876 
when Mr. Watson died, into the prietorship of Col. Eobert Munroe, and in 1880, 
the firm became R. Munroe & Son, under which style it still continues. There 
are now in Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities fourteen boiler and tank manufac- 
tories. The growth of the oil business originating a new branch in the boiler 



174 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

-svorks in the making of iron tanks for the reception of oil at the wells, many of 
i^iese tanks holding from 20,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil. In 1856, there wete at 
Pittsburgh seven boiler yards employing 149 men, whose products amounted to 
$305,000. In 1886, there were fourteen tank and boiler manufactories employing 
from 650 to 700 hands, the value of whose product was |1,960,000 an increase in 
thirty years of 100 per cent, in the number of establishments, over 600 per cent, 
in the amount of the productions, and about 400 per cent, in the number of em- 
ployees. 

There are a number of very large special manufactories that are prominent 
among the industries of the county, of which individualized mention cannot be 
avoided although the wish in preparing this volume has been to omit all that 
might be considered as personal notices, other than such as was required for the 
historical narrative. 

Among these is the Koberts & Oliver Wire Company, Limited. This company 
was organized in the spring of 1881, having purchased the plant of a small wire 
mill built about two years previous, and made large additions. On the 7th of 
November, 1882, the works burned down, but rebuilt with such expedition that 
the mill was in operation by January 2d, 1883. In 1884 the company built a mill 
for the making of wire rods between South Eighth and Ninth streets. There is 
made at this establishment over 15,000 tons of barbed wire a year, chiefly of steel. 
There is employed at the works an average of 1,100 hands, whose wages amount to 
over |400 000 a year, and the capital invested in the plant is stated at $1,000,000. 

Another important establishment that properly comes under the classification 
of the special works at Pittsburgh is the 

Westinghouse Air Brake Manufactory. 

It was in or about 1869-70 that Mr. Westinghouse, after overcoming many 
obstacles in the way of incredulity and indifference of railroad officials, besides 
the host of minor material and financial difficulties that render the path of in- 
ventors anything but one strewn with roses, achieved success with his brake, and 
its general adoptions on all railroads, in time, became a fixed fact as an absolute 
necessity, not only for protection to travelers, but as a safe-guard against financial 
loss to the railroad companies. 

The Westinghouse air brake is now in use on about 25,000 engines and 

175 000 cars in all parts of the world, no railway of any importance in the United 
States attempting to run trains without it. By its use the engineer can bring his 
train to a stop in the shortest possible time. It can be applied from any part of 
the train by any employe if necessary, and it applies itself automatically if the 
train breaks in two, or any accident occurs to the brake apparatus. 

In a series of experiments, a train running thirty miles an hour up grade was 
brouo-ht to a stop in sixteen seconds by the engineer. In a second experiment, the 
brake being applied from the interior of the car, a train running between thirty 
and thirty-five miles an hour came to a full stop in fifteen seconds. In a third 



lEON AND STEEL TRADE. 175 

experiment, the train running thirty miles an hour, down grade of twenty-six feet 
per mile, the four rear cars were detached, and the brake acting automatically the 
cars came to a full stop in eleven seconds. In another experiment, the engine 
alone being severed from the train, the speed being forty miles an hour, down a 
grade of twenty-eight feet to the mile, the train came to a rest in ten and a half 
seconds. The first experiment quoted showed that a train moving at a speed of 
thirty miles an hour may be stopped at a distance of less that 550 feet in a quarter 
minute's time. 

The second showed that a train, by simply pulling a cord in any part of it, may 
be stopped, when going at the rate of thirty-two miles an hour down grade, in 552 
feet in a quarter minute's time ; and the third and fourth^ that if the the cars be- 
came detached the brakes apply automatically with equal effect. A train running 
thirty-five miles an hour will pass 4,080 feet in a minute, or about the length of 
an ordinary car in a second. Two trains approaching each other at that speed, 
coming into collision, would require only half a second to telescope. The import- 
ance of this invention is thus easily seen, the Westinghouse brake bringing a car 
or a train to a full rest in a quarter of a second or less. 

Improvements on the construction and application of the brake have been, 
from time to time, made by Mr. Westinghouse, and in 1887 an improvement, by 
which the air being taken from the train pipe to the cylinder, the friction of the 
long pipe was gotten rid of, by which yet quicker stoppages were secured. 

It is of no small interest that Pittsburgh is the birthplace of this extremely 
important invention, as well as the seat of its manufacture. The Committee on 
Science and Art of the Franklin Institute, in concluding an exhaustive report on 
the Westinghouse Air Brake, says: "That by contriving and introducing this ap- 
paratus Mr. Westinghouse has become a great public benefactor." Broken bridges, 
wild trains, accidental obstructions or malicious impediments, lost their terrors 
when the presevering efforts of the inventor and his friends succeeded in securing 
the adoption of this invention, so wonderful in its effects. 

In this, as in other matters, Allegheny county is to be again credited with great 
public benefits, arising from her industries. In those things, as well as in the 
whole range of her manufactures, the broad practical character of their produc- 
tions is strikingly apparent in the history of the county's progress. 

The Westinghouse Air Brake Co. are now erecting extensive new works, near 
Turtle Creek, on the Penna. E,. R., which will occupy eight acres of ground. 
There are 700 hands employed in the present works. The capital of the company 
is $5,000,000, and its financial success is too well known in all business circles to 
require comment. Its present oflicers are George Westinghouse, President ; H. 
H. Westinghouse, Manager and Acting Vice President; John Caldwell, Treasurer 
W. W. Card, Secretary . T. W. Welsh, Superintendent. 

Although, technically, engine and machine works, yet the 

Locomotive Works 
of Pittsburgh are a distinct and prominent division of the manufactures of Pitts- 



176 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

burgh. Of these there are two. The Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works, a 
joint stock company, chartered under the laws of Pennsylvania for the building of 
locomotives, passenger and freight cars, was the pioneer in this business. The 
company was organized in 1865. The works are located in the Sixth ward, Alle- 
gheny City. The ground was broken for this manufactory within the limits of 
that city on August 1st, 1865, the shops were ready for occupation in the autumn 
of 1866, and the first locomotive was turned out in the spring of 1867. Since that 
date the works have been in almost continuous operation, having turned out over 
1,000 locomotives and a large number of stationary engines. Although the 
buildings were liberally planned and furnished with machinery far exceeding any 
anticipated need, so much has the business increased that frequent additions of 
machinery and buildings have been imperative. The locomotives constructed are 
of every class of broad and narrow gauge, from five to sixty-five tons weight, and 
adapted to all kinds of service. They are used in every section of the United 
States, and have achieved a high reputation. The annual capacity of the works 
is about 150 locomotives of the class usually employed on full gauge railroads, to 
produce which requires the labor of some 600 workmen, mostly skilled, and a vast 
array of machinery. 

The Locomotive works of H. K. Porter & Co. is the next in age. Situated in 
the 17th ward on the line of the Allegheny Valley Eailroad, they occupy one and 
one-half acres between 49th and 50th streets. The business was begun by Smith 
& Porter in 1866, in a three-story wooden building on the South Side, and the 
first locomotive was run across the old Smithfield Street bridge by its own steam, 
and thence over cobble-stones to the railroad freight station for shipment. The 
old shop was burned in 1871, and larger and more complete shops were built by 
Porter, Bell & Co., at the present location. The first locomotive was shipped before 
the new shop was roofed in. In 1878 the firm of H. K. Porter & Co. succeeded to 
the business and the shops have been enlarged several times since. From 200 to 
250 men are employed in all departments. Over 700 locomotives have been 
turned out of these shops, and the present capacity is 10 locomotives per month. 

Like the Locomotive Works and the Westinghouse Air Brake Works, another 
distinctive establishment is 

The Westinghouse Machine Company. 

This is a company incorporated under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania,, 
with a capital stock of $350,000. The business of the company is the manufac- 
turing of a special steam engine, known as the Westinghouse engine. 

The company employs at present 200 actual workmen ; the wages per annum, 
amount to about |120,000; the works cover an acre of ground on Libery and Penn 
avenues and Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth streets, the cost of the plant being^ 
$350,000. 

The sales'of this company are not made direct to the actual user, but through 
general agencies, which are in the United States in sixteen difierent States ; also 
one each in Holland, France, England, Australia and South America. 



IBON AND STEEL TRADE. 177 



The Plow Works 

of Pittsburgh date back to 1825. In that year Samuel Hall establisjhed what is 
known for nearly fifty years as the " Globe Plow Works." These works were es- 
tablished at the corner of Penn avenue and Cecil alley, where the offices of the 
works were still continued until about ten years since, when the present works on 
Duquesne way and Cecil alley were built. In 1836 the works were enlarged and 
removed to Manchester, then a suburb of Allegheny City. In 1845 Mr. Hall as- 
sociated with him Alexander Speer, who had for some years been in his employ 
the firm style being Hall & Speer, under which style business was conducted 
until 1873, when Mr. Hall, having died some years previously, and all his heirs 
having withdrawn from the business, Mr. Speer associated with him his son, Joseph 
T. (William W. having been admitted as a partner in 1869), under the firm style 
of Alex. Speer & Sons, under which style the business is still conducted. The 
"Globe" is one of the largest in the country. The present works occupy 270x240 
feet, two stories, with a foundry floor of 100x120, and a cupalo of 2,000 tons capa- 
city, with blacksmith shop and finishing rooms of two stories, 60x270, and the 
storeroom 60x230. An average of from 100 to 120 hands are employed, whose 
wages will run up to quite $100,000 a year when fully employed. The value of 
the plant, in machinery, grounds and buildings, is about |200,000, and the output 
in plows, cultivators and similar agricultural implements, about $500,000. The 
office, corner of Cecil alley and Penn av., of these works were long a land mark in 
the city, and have attained a historically local fame because of what was jocularly 
called the " Mutual Admiration Society," which met there. It was the custom for 
years for a coterie of some of the most prominent and leading business men of the 
city to congregate there of evenings. These gatherings, which were governed by a 
code of verbal rules, were the occasion for the display of much wit and humor, and 
often for the discussion of projected business enterprises or public improvements. 
One of the rules was that all the members should retire to their homes at nine 
o'clock, which rule was rigidly enforced. 

Its membership consisting of Alex. Speer, James McAuley, Wm. R. Brown 
Wm. Holmes, John Holmes, Geo. W. Jackson, Capt. Wm. Forsythe, Dennis Leon- 
ard, Michael Whitmore, Geo. Black, Richard Hays, Chas. and Henry Hays and 
James Verner. All except the three latter have passed away, leaving their mem- 
ories and the public and business enterprises in which they participated for kindly 
remembrance. Promptly at seven o'clock in the summer and six o'clock in the 
winter, they were at the meeting, occupying chairs on the pavement in front of the 
office in summer, and around the huge coal fire inside in winter. Many a humor- 
ous story is told of this genial conclave, and many of Pittsburgh's commercial ven- 
tures and public enterprises had its birth at these gatherings. Its members were 
among the *• solid men " of the day, and did in their life time solid work for the 
county and cities' advancement. It was a sort of unchartered board of trade, and 
a forerunner of the modern club. 

12 



178 



ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 



The Empire Plow Works, the other of this class of industries, manufacture 
about 1500 plows a year, and 700 tons of agricultural steel shapes. The plant is 
stated as of a value of $60,000 ; the wages paid will average, when running full, 
from 135,000 to |40,000 a year. The value of its output could not be obtained. 
Plows are also made incidentally by some two or three other establishments, and 
the approximate value of the output of this class of manufactures is about $800,000 
to $900,000 a year. 

As before observed, to mention the entire range of iron manufactures in Alle- 
gheny county would render this volume a mere trade catalogue. The more prom- 
inent of its leading iron and steel industries have been grouped in this chapter, 
that a brief history of its progress in the making of that metal might be pre- 
sented and a general history of the county's growth in that respect. As nearly 
as can be arrived at, the value of the iron and steel product of Allegheny county 
is upwards of $150,000,000 a year, on the basis of its production in 1887. It is 
not possible to present any comparative figures of its increase from decade to 
decade, or even in periods of greater length, by reason of the absence of any re- 
liable grouping of statistics at comparative dates. 

To a gross summing up of the yearly business transactions in iron and steel at 
Pittsburgh should be added the data of its metal market. The irons and ores of 
most all quarters of the globe as well as the United States find a market in Pitts- 
burgh, and are brought there. The gross receipts of ore, pig iron, blooms, billets, 
old rails and scrap iron are given by G. Follansbee, Superintendent of the Pitts- 
burgh Chamber of Commerce, in a report to the United States Bureau of Statistics, 
as follows : 



Tear. 


Ore. 


Totals. 


Year. 


Ore. 


Totals. 


1870, 


. 44,900 tons. 


319,720 tons. 


1875, 


. 175,596 tons. 


410,604 tons. 


1871, 


. 75,820 " 


367,207 " 


1876, 


. 208,262 " 


479,798 " 


1872, 


. 115,420 " 


496,648 " 


1877, 


. 230,476 " 


552,037 '" 


1873, 


. 320,844 " 


533,918 " 


1878, 


. 299,856 " 


676,728 " 


1874, 


. 255,317 " 


631,182 " 


1879, 


. 356,093 " 


782,516 " 








1880, 


. 346,733 " 


834,582 " 



The receipts of ores and raw irons for the succeeding years are an approxima- 
tion to these figures. 

To this must be added the make of pig iron of the furnaces at Pittsburgh. 
The statistics of the American Iron and Steel Association give for the twelve 
years from 1874 to 1885 the following figures : 





Tons. 




Tons. 




Tons. 


1874, . 


. . 143,660 


1875, . 


. . 131,856 


1876, . 


. . 128,555 


1877, . 


. . 141,749 


1878, . 


. . 217,299 


1879, . 


. . 267,315 


1880, . 


. . 300,497 


1881, . 


. . 385,453 


1882, . 


. . 358,840 


1883, . 


. . 592,475 


1884, . 


. . 487,055 


1885, . 


. . 585,696 



The output of the succeeding three years may be averaged at about the same 

as 1885. 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 179 

To this, also, may be added the three other furnaces classed as in the vicinage 
of Pittsburgh. From these figures it would seem as though the metal market of 
Pittsburgh represented in the handling of ores and raw iron between 1,400,000 
and 1,500,000 tons. As there is an amount received by river of raw irons, scrap, 
old rails and ore, and also the old rails and scrap of the vicinage, it is quite prob- 
able that the handling of these classes of iron approaches 2,000,000 tons a year, 
and represent a business value of about |30,000,000. In addition to these iron 
T^alues, the metal market is also enriched and augmented by the handling of lead, 
spelter, copper, tin, antimony, manganese and other metallic ores and substances, 
and in the precious metals, silver and gold. Some of these are statistically exhib- 
ited under their classification heads, while of others no definite statistics can be 
at present reached. It is, however, when it is stated that, in addition to the other 
metals mentioned, between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 of silver and $2,000,000 of 
lead is embraced in the valuation of one smelting company's business (the Penn- 
sylvania Lead Company), not overstating the matter to say that the business of 
the metal market itself, as here sketched, will aggregate over $40,000,000. 

It is therefore probable that what might be called the entire iron business of 
Allegheny county is upward of $200,000,000 annually on its present basis. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Glass Manufacturing. 



For ninety -one years the making of glass has been not only a progressive 
mechanical industry in Allegheny county, but a constantly developing art. Dat- 
ing back in the inception nearly to the year of the organization of the county, it 
is a fair exponent of the ratios of progress made in manufacturing. Begun when 
the little village of Pittsburgh had only fourteen hundred inhabitants, the making 
of glass has always been a noted industry of the community, and to day the third 
generation of glass makers are educating the fourth in the art, and the inherited 
skill of ninety years practical knowledge will continue to render the future of 
Allegheny county as famous for her glass factories as it has been in the past. 

A location to become a great and controlling manufacturing point cannot attain 
force from the possession of any one or two requisites ; neither can it leap into 
broad success, but must attain its growth through years of accumulation of skill 
practically obtained. While glass factories are to be found other places than in 
the locality of Pittsburgh and its vicinity, the accummulation of three generations 
of practical skill now indigenous to Pittsburgh will be of slow concentration else- 
where, and while the pen that may a score of years hence record the manufactur- 
ing growth of the country will no doubt have mention to make of other glass 
producing centers, the statistics will show no falling off in Pittsburgh's progress in 
her glass trade. Competition may develop economies that may reduce prices, and 



180 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

rivalries invite attempts at superiorities in qualities, but at Pittsburgh all that 
will keep the glass trade of the city in advance is more possible than at any other 
location. 

As history is in chief a presentation and review of facts which must necessarily^ 
be to some degree repetition, as from time to time a supplementary or fresh con-^ 
sideration of historic circumstances are indicated, so the history of Allegheny 
county's progress in glass manufacturing necessarily embraces some of the old as 
well as the new data and incidents, yet will not be none the less interesting in the 
homogenous history of the ninety years of glass manufacturing in the county of 
Allegheny. While it is generally accepted that the first glass works were estab- 
lished by General James O'Hara and Isaac Craig, in 1797, on the south side of the 
Monongahela river, about opposite the mouth of the Allegheny, there have been 
statements made of one earlier yet, and also that the first glass house was on the 
north side of the Ohio, on the present site of the Marine Hospital. Of these 
two claims there is no absolute evidence beyond hearsay and apparently trust- 
worthy statements of reliable persons. It is stated on the authority of Wm.. 
McCuUy, who died in 1869, the founder of the firm of Wm. McCully & 
Co., who learned his trade in O'Hara's glass works, that there was a small six pot 
glass factory called Scotts, established in 1795. Singularly enough in the other 
claim as to the first glass works being on the north side as before stated, the verbal 
authority is quite as positive. Mr. Joseph Eichbaum, of Eichbaum & Co.,. 
stationers, a grandson of the Peter Wm. Eichbaum whom Messrs. O'Hara and 
Craig brought from Philadelphia to manage their glass house business in 1797, 
says that his grandfather often pointed out to him as the site of the firs^glass 
house, a point where the Marine Hospital now stands on the south side of the 
Ohio. There was a glass house there commonly mentioned as built by Denny & 
Beelen, in 1802. The original manuscript article of the partnership by whom the 
works were built is before the writer, and shows the date to be April 29th, 1800^ 
and the partners were Brigadier- General James Wilkinson, Lieutenant-Colonel 
John Francis Haintranck, Doctor Hugh Scott, of the borough of Pittsburgh, John 
Lewis De Razilly, and John Wilkins, the younger. The names being thus ex- 
pressed in the partnership agreement. In the signatures to the paper is that of 
E. Denny, although his name is not mentioned in the co-partnership articles, to 
which John Lewis De Razilly signs his name simply ''Eazilly." An account 
current between Denny & Beelen and the Ohio Glass Company, of the date of 
January 1st, 1801, shows that that firm merely acted as agents or factors for the 
company. 

The co-partnership articles contain no mention of any sum or other values to 
be contributed by the five partners, only that the benefits were to be divided in 
five equal parts. It is to be presumed from this and the items of the account cur- 
rent that Messrs. Denny & Beelen furnished, as commission men, all the supplies, 
paid the workmen and sold the glass, while the partners before mentioned con- 
tributed occasional money, as the first entry of the account current is January Ist^ 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. I8t 

1801, "Money advanced sundry times to Denny & Beelen, $2,077.58," and on 
March 14th, "from Dr. Hugh Scott, $100.00;" March 20th, "John Wilkinr, 
$200.00." The account current show-s payment for hands, etc., to the amount of 
15,559.79, and that there is a balance due Denny & Beelen of $731.56 on December 
20th, 1802. The itemized sales of glass shows that the price of window glass then 
was $12.00 per box of 100 feet, but the size is not given. Among the items is one 
-for $6.00 paid for a coffin for J. Kischdollar, who died at the works November 
26th ; also an item " For candles furnished J. Waggener for use of cutting room, 
37 cts." The price at that date for cutting wood is shown by the item paid Wm. 
McNaughton for cutting five cords of wood at 50 cents a cord ; 9 J coarse ditto, 40 
cents. An item "paid Kichard Parker for six bushels of corn 40 cents per 
bushel," designates the price of corn then. The price of boarding horses at that 
date is shown by an item "paid Noble Willock $1.50 for keeping two horses one 
-day and two nights." There is no item which shows the rate of wages for blowers 
and cutters, but the item " paid John Clark for seventeen days, ending 18th of 
February last, as a composition mixer, at $18.00 per month," shows the rate of 
wages for that class of work. Two cutters only are mentioned in the account- 
Thomas Algeo and John Waggener— and but four blowers— J. Kirchdollar, the 
•one previously mentioned as having died at the works November 26th, and John 
Prank, Nicholas Howder and Casper Hain ; also the teasers— John Park and Wm. 
Barnes. 

Some other items in the account show that carpenters' Avages were then 77 
■cents a day, and boarding $2.00 per week. Among the payments is one on March 
7th, 1811, to J. B. Falleur of $36.73. This is the Frenchman brought from 
France to manage the works, called La Fleur, but in the account current it is 
spelled as above. While the documentary evidence of the time show thatO'Hara's 
works were the first pioneer glass factory of Allegheny county, yet the positive 
■statement of Wm. McCully as to the Scott's works of 1795, and the recollections 
-of Joseph Eichbaum, Esq., before mentioned, has always left a legendary doubt as 
to its possible existence. The name of Dr. Hugh Scott in the Ohio Glass Co. 
at once indicates where the term "Scott's Works" of Mr. McCully's recollections 
originated, and would go to prove that his recollections of the date were at fault, 
while the same document showing that the glass works on the north side of the 
Ohio, at the present site of the Marine Hospital, was only begun in 1800, shows 
that Mr. Eichbaum's grandson has some erroneous impression of his grandfather's 
conversation relative to the site of the first glass house. Although these remin- 
iscences are not really necessary to an exhibit of the progress of glass making in 
Allegheny county, they are given as not uninteresting in connection with the in- 
■ception of glass making in Pittsburgh, and as an instance of how, on apparently 
,^ood authority, with a certain showing of fact, errors become embodied as facts in 
history. The account current previously quoted from would seem to indicate that 
.at the date of December 20th, 1802, the works had been abandoned, as there is 
aiot only a final balance sheet, but a foot note says that they (Denny & Beelen) 



182 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

"have received a list of the tools taken by O'Hara's people, but the prices have not 
been received, and that there are yet a great many tools at the old works whicb 
they will probably take." This document would seem to settle that the work& 
were erected after April 29th, 1800, and were abandoned previous to December 
20th, 1802. 

The establishment of the first window glass factory west of the mountains is^ 
due to the enterprise of the celebrated Albert Gallatin, who in 1797, in conjunction 
with a Mr. Nicholson and two Messrs. Kramers (Germans), began the manufacture 
of window glass at New Geneva. This firm obtained from $14 to |20 per box for 
their glass, and maintained high prices for a length of time, in opposition to the 
advice of Mr. Gallatin, who wished to put the price down to $4.50 per box, giving 
as his reason that the enormous prices the firm were obtaining would soon invite- 
competition, whereas the rate of $4.50 per box would not invite rivalry, and the 
business remaining in their hands alone would be suflSciently remunerative. This 
shrewd advice was overruled, and through competition the prices declined to $8 
per box, when the firm ceased manufacturing. Mr. Gallatin's financial ability 
and business shrewdness has long been a matter of history, and his. administration 
of the Treasury of the United States when its Secretary. He seems, however, to- 
have had commercial instincts that would at the present day have made him a 
clever monopolist or the able president of a glass or some other class of manufac- 
turing trust. The works established by Albert Gallatin were run as late as 1835- 
or 1836, having been operated in 1814 by Nicholson & Co., and are mentioned in 
1826 as the Geneva Works, producing 4,000 boxes of glass. These works were 
40x40 as originally built, with eight pot furnace, using wood for fuel and ashes for 
alkali. The title of the firm was first Gallatin & Co., and afterwards changed to- 
New Geneva Glass Works. 

The works of O'Hara & Craig were of frame with eight pot furnace holding 
not over 500 pounds of material to the pot. The pioneer master workman was 
Peter Wm. Eichbaum, before mentioned in connection with the establishments 
He was the descendant of a family of that name at Allemand, Westphalia, who had 
been glass cutters through many generations, and left Germany for France to per- 
sue his trade where he is said to have furnished some of the glass cut for the pal- 
ace of Versailles when Louis XVI. was on the throne. After the fall of the Bas- 
tile, Mr. Eichbaum came to the United States, sailing from Amsterdam in 1792,^. 
and settled at Philadelphia from whence he came to Pittsburgh, as already re- 
lated. In 1810 the following mention is made of his work in an account published 
that year of the manufactures of Pittsburgh. Says the account in mentioning 
glass cutting ; "ThiS^ business has recently been established by an ingenious Ger- 
man (Eichbaum) formerly glass cutter to Louis XVI. late king of France. We 
have seen a six light chandelier with prisms of his cutting which does credit to the 
workman and reflects honor on our country, for we have reason to believe that it 
is the first cut in the United States. It is suspended in the Ohio Lodge No. 113 in. 
the house of Mr. Kerr innkeeper." 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 183 

This while a historic note of the early glass cutting at Pittsburgh, is also 
another incident marking the pioneer character of Allegheny county's manufac- 
turing progress before noted. 

Great and unexpected difficulties were encountered by Major Craig, who seems 
to have been the managing partner, as Gen. O'Hara who was much absent as ap- 
pears from Craig's letters to him. Much trouble was experienced in the matter 
of pots. The clay of the neighborhood was found not to be suitable, and that used 
had to be brought over the mountains from New Jersey, in barrels at great ex- 
pense. The frequent delays in receiving supplies of clay obliged the furnace to be 
allowed to go out of blast for want of pots. When the clay did arrive all the 
workmen were employed making pots, which not being allowed sufficient time to 
dry, when the furnace was put in blast the pots would be lost sometimes at the 
first melting. The workmen seem also to have been wanting in skill and easily 
angered and constantly threatening to stop work. Major Craig, although a man 
of great perseverance, seems to have become, after a time disheartened, and in 
some publications is said to have declined any further connection with the busi- 
ness in 1798, at which time the works were leased to a firm styled Eichbaum, 
Wendt & Co. composed of workmen. The Eichbaum of the firm was the Eich- 
baum brought from Philadelphia by Messrs. O'Hara & Craig. Just how long the 
workmen continued their lease does not appear, but it was until after 1800 as ap- 
pears from a letter dated at Pittsburgh, August 5th, 1803 subsequently referred to, 
written to Samuel Hodgson of Philadelphia by Major Craig, who would seem to 
have resumed the management or an interest in the works. He writes: 

" With respect to our glass manufacturing, the establishment has been attended 
with greater expense than we had estimated. This has been occasioned partly 
by very extensive buildings necessarily erected to accommodate a number of people 
employed in the manufacture, together with their families, and partly by the ig- 
norance of some people in whose skill of that business we reposed too much confi- 
dence. Scarcity of some of the materials at the commencement of the manufactur- 
ing was also attended with considerable expense. We have, however, by perse- 
verance and attention, brought the manufacture to comparative perfection. Dur- 
ing the last blast, which commenced at the beginning of January and continued 
six months, we made on an average thirty boxes a week of excellent window glass, 
beside bottles and other hollow- ware to the amount of one-third of the value of the 
window glass, 8 by 10 selling at $13.50, 10 by 12 at IIS, and other sizes in pro- 
portion." 

This is also of historical interest as giving the price of glass at that date at 
Pittsburgh, and also as to the manufacture of bottles and hollow ware. Just what 
was considered hollow ware does not appear, but it could not have been what is 
now called tableware, as there is no evidence that as late as 1803 that flint glass 
had been made at these works only in an experimental way. The attempt was 
made at these works in 1800 by a William Price, of London ; as on September 5th, 
1880, Major Craig wrote to Gen. O'Hara that an arrangement had been made with 
Eichbaum, Wendt & Co. to allow Mr. Price to use a pot of the furnace and give 
him such assistance as he needed. While Major Craig wrote to Gen. O'Hara, un- 



184 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

der date of Nov. 17th, 1800, that he was satisfied of Mr. Price's ability to make 
white glass, and had sent Gen. O'Hara a specimen of that made by Price, the man- 
ufacture does not seem to have been carried on, for, as before observed, there is no 
mention in any records of its being made further than at the experimental trials. 

It is generally understood that quite a number of workmen came to the west 
from the factories of the Messrs. Amlung, of Frederick, Md., about 1798 and 1800, 
although the date is indefinite. There is a story, or rather legend, that it was this 
party of workmen, chiefly Germans, whom Mr. Gallatin met at Wheeling while 
on their way to Louisville, Ky., to establish works there, and persuaded them to 
return with him to New Geneva and establish works there, he agreeing to furnish 
the capital. 

In 1807 the products of O'Hara's works are recorded as valued at $18,000. In 
this year George Eobinson, a carpenter by trade, and Edward Ensel, began the 
manufacturing of flint glass under the style and firm of Eobinson & Ensel. Disa- 
greements arising in the firm, but little business was done, and in 1808 they were 
bought out by Messrs. Bakewell & Page. This firm continued the manufacture of 
flint glass under that style for many years, and produced beautiful ware after over- 
coming many difficulties arising from inferiority of material, bad construction of 
furnaces, want of skill on the part of his workmen, and their refusal to allow the in- 
troduction of apprentices. This intractability of workmen seems to have attended 
glass making from the time of O'Hara & Craig, when it is mentioned that they 
were petulant, easily angered, continually threatening to leave and opposed to ap- 
prentices, down to the present time, and calls for these comments because of its 
appearing from the history of strikes in glass factories to be an inherent trait in 
the disposition of glass workers. 

The obstacles encountered by Mr. Bakewell would have disheartened a man 
less determined, but relying on his own judgment and possessed of great business 
ability, he persevered and overcame all his difficulties. He rebuilt his furnaces on 
a better plan and obtained good material, had competent workmen brought from 
Europe, by whom others were instructed, and the works finally became successful. 
To Mr. Bakewell belongs the credit of establishing the first successful flint glass 
house in the United States, and to Allegheny county the honor of its location. 
The firm was changed afterwards to Bakewell, Pear & Co., and was for many years 
the leading firm in Pittsburgh. Some years since, the original members of the firm 
having died, the younger Bakewells, after closing up the estate, retired from busi- 
ness, and the name of Bakewell ceased to be connected with the manufacture of 
glass. The ware made by this house, under its various styles of firms, was always 
famous in the trade, and to-day many of the older families of Pittsburgh have 
pieces of cut glass made at the works of this firm that are treasured heirlooms. It 
was some of the work from the establishment of Messrs. Bakewell & Page that is 
mentioned by a Mr. Ferron, who was at Pittsburgh in 1817, and recording in his 
journal various matters that came under his observation, wrote: "A pair of de- 
canters, cut from a London pattern, the price of which was to be eight guineas 
($40.00)." 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 185 

The site of the peculiarly historical flint glass works, because of their being 
the first successfully established in the United States, was at the foot of Eoss street, 
in the city of Pittsburgh, on the bank of the Monongahela. The furnace com- 
pleted in 1808 held six twenty inch pots. This was, in 1810, replaced by a ten pot 
furnace, and in 1814 another furnace of the same capacity was added. The works 
were burned down in the great fire of 1845, and immediately rebuilt, and are now 
occupied as part of the B. & O. R. R, depot. Mr. Bakewell is the Thomas Bake- 
well mentioned as the author of the address to the citizens of Western Pennsyl- 
vania on the outbreak of the rebellion, quoted in the general history of Allegheny 
County's Hundred Years. He filled during his lifetime many public ofl&ces of 
trust and honor. 

In 1812 a new window glass factory was put in operation on the south side, 
then in what was called Sydneyville, in Lower St. Clair township, now 28th 
ward of Pittsburgh, on the lot bounded by the bank of the river and Muriel streets, 
South Side. The tract of 350 acres, of which this is a part, was deeded in 1769) 
by the Penns to John Ormsby. In 1812 a part of the tract passed to Beltzhoover, 
Wendt & Co., and the new window glass factory just mentioned was built upon it 
by them. This firm was composed of Daniel Beltzhoover, Geo, Sutton, John Mc- 
Mickle, Edward Ensell, Sr., Edward Ensell, Jr., Frederick Wendt, Charles Ihmsen 
and Peter Hain. The Frederick Wendt of this firm is probably the Frederick 
Wendt of Eichbaum, Wendt & Co., the lessees of O'Hara & Craig's works in 1798, 
and Edward Ensell, Sr., probably the Ensell of Robinson & Ensell of 1807. The 
firm was changed in 1822 to Sutton, Wendt & Co. In 1836 Christian Ihmsen, 
who was the son of Charles Ihmsen, of Beltzhoover, Wendt & Co., bought out 
most of the partners of Sutton, Wendt & Co. 

As illustrative of the conditions under which the window glass workers per- 
formed their labor at that date, the following articles of agreement is quoted : 

" It is agreed by and between the undersigned. Christian Ihmsen and the un- 
dersigned journeymen glass blowers, as follows : The said journeymen, each one 
for himself and not for the other, agree to blow glass ware for the said Christian 
Ihmsen, at his glass factory in Birmingham, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, for 
the period of nine months, commencing on or about the first day of September, 
1836, and ending on or about the first day of June, 1837. The said journeymen 
are to be charged the sum of eight dollars for neglecting to work a whole day, and 
four dollars for neglecting to work a half day, unless the said neglect shall be oc- 
casioned by the sickness of themselves respectively, or their respective families, or 
other accident. Provided, however, if tlie party neglecting as aforesaid, shall have 
one or more persons working with him at a pot, he shall pay for neglecting as 
aforesaid, but five dollars for whole day and two and one-half for a halt day; Pro- 
vided, also, that no journeymen shall be charged as aforesaid, for neglecting to 
perform a day's work, if he give to Christian Ihmsen or his foreman, one day's pre- 
vious notice of his intention to be absent from his employ upon a day certain. The 
said Christian Ihmsen to pay the said journeymen, respectively, their wages in full 
once a month aforesaid, — the first payment to be made in full on the fifth day of 
October, and the other months payments to be made on the fifth day of any re- 
spective month during the said term of nine months. Any of the undersigned 
who shall work at any time in flint glass shall be allowed for every day that he is 



186 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

thus employed to the amount of what he can earn upon an average while working 
in green glass." 

In 1838, Thomas I. Whitehead, Christian Ihmsen, Chas. Ihrasen, and William 
Phillips, organized a firm under the style of Whitehead, Ihmsen & Plunket, and 
built the glass works on the corner of South Tenth and Carson streets. Subse- 
quently this firm changed to Young, Ihmsen & Plunket, (W. P. Young, Francis 
Plunket, Christian Ihmsen,) and afterwards to Ihmsen, Plunket & McKnight^ 
(Charles McKnight, Chas. I. Ihmsen, Francis McKnight.) The other partners 
retiring, the works passed into the ownership of Chas. I. Ihmsen. Thomas I. 
Whitehead went to Cincinnati, where he died ; Wm. P. Young went to St. Louis, 
where he died; Francis Plunket died at Pittsburgh. In 1855 the firm became C. 
Ihmsen & Co., (Christian Ihmsen, Chas T. Ihmsen, Franklin McGowin, and Wm. 
Ihmsen.) In 1860, Franklin McGowin retired from the firm, and its style was 
changed to C. Ihmsen & Sons. In 1862, Christian Himsen died, and the business 
was continued under the same firm style, composed of Chas. T. Ihmsen, Wm. 
Ihmsen, and Christian Ihmsen, Jr. Subsequently the firm became the Ihmsen 
Glass Co., Limited, occupying the same site of the glass works of the firm of Beltz- 
hoover, Wendt & Co., of 1812. The works at the corner of Tenth and Carson 
having been during the changes, vacated, and subsequently occupied by new firms. 
This genealogical record of this particular firm is given because it not only 
directly connects the glass business of to-day in the city of Pittsburgh with the 
second window glass house successfully established in Allegheny county, but has 
virtually, by heritage, remained in the family for over seventy-five years, and thus 
becomes the oldest firm in the glass trade, having continuous family membership. 

In 1829 the Union Flint Glass Works were established by Hay & McCully. In 
1831 the firm became Hay & Campbell. In 1834 the firm became Park & Camp- 
bell, and in 1836 Park, Campbell & Hanna, and in 1838 Park & Hanna; in 1846 
Hannas & Wallace ; in 1849 Wallace, Lyon & Co. With the formation of this 
firm James P. Wallace, of the firm, inspired with the ambition to improve the 
quality of the flint glass then made, turned the eflTorts of the firm in that direction^ 
and it is to him the credit is due of creating the rivalries through which the flint 
or crystal table ware of the Pittsburgh factories began to increase in its beauty 
and quality. 

In 1852 the style of the firm was changed to James B. Lyon & Co., the title of 
the works having been previously changed from its original one of the Union Flint 
Glass Works to the O'Hara Works, and in 1875 a company by the title of the 
O'Hara Glass Co., limited, came into the proprietorship of the works — James B» 
Lyon, chairman; John B. Lyon, treasurer, and Joseph Anderson, superintendent. 

In 1830 Curling & Price (Alfred Curling, Price) established what was 

known as the Fort Pitt Glass Works on what is now Washington street, near Fifth 
avenue, for the manufacture of flint glass ware. Subsequently this firm became 

Curling, Robertson & Co. (A. Curling, Morgan Bobertson, Ditheridge). 

Through the death of A. Curling and M. Robertson the works afterwards passed 



gla;s;s ma:nufacturing. 18T 

into the ownership of Ditheridge & Co., under which style the works are still 
continued in the same location, but are now principally engaged in the manufac- 
turing of lamp chimneys. 

In 1831 Wm. McCully, in association with Capt. John Hay, built the bottle 
house on the Allegheny river near the foot of Twentieth street. These work& 
were flooded out in 1832, when Mr. McCully withdrew, and Capt. John Hay con- 
tinued to operate the works, Mr. McCully building a new works at the corner of 
Liberty and Sixteenth street. In 1834 he became interested with Wm. Ihmsen in 
a window glass factory at Monongahela City. In 1810, when Wm. Ihmsen diedy 
Mr. McCully associated himself with Frederick Lorenz in carrying on the Sligo^ 
Window Glass Works, established by him in 1824, and also the old O'Hara Works^ 
Thomas Wightman being also a partner. Subsequently the firm separated, and ia 
1850 Mr. McCully bought from F. Lorenz the Sligo Works and formed a new firm; 
in association with his son under the firm style of Wm. McCully & Co. Frederick 
Lorenz and Thos. Wightman, under the firm style of Lorenz & Wightman, orgaii- 
ized another firm, retaining the old O'Hara Works. The firm of Wm. McCully & 
Son continued until 1852, when Mark W. Watson becoming a partner, the style^ 
of the firm became W. McCully & Co. In 1869 Mr. McCully died, and the business- 
was continued under the same firm style by Mark W. Watson and John M. King^. 
which it continues to the present time. 

In 1834 Samuel McKee and James Salisbury and others established a windoAr 
glass works in Sligo. In 1836 Saoauel McKee sold out his interest in the firm and: 
erected a window glass factory near what is now South Thirteenth street and Car- 
son, under which style the firm continues, Samuel McKee being, however, dead,, 
and other partners by inheritance and by purchase being admitted. Mr. Salis- 
bury and his partners discontinuing the business. 

In 1834 William Eberhart began making window glass at Bellevernon, on the- 
Monongahela river. The works subsequently passed into the ownership of 
George A. Berry & Co., and from him to the firm of E. C. Schmertz & Co. (Eobert 
C. Schmertz and others). Mr. Schmertz died in 1888, but the business is still con- 
tinued under the same style. 

In 1840 Mr. Phillips, afterwards President of the Allegheny Valley Eailroad^- 
formerly a partner in Whitehead, Ihmsen & Plunket, built a glass works for 
making flint glass at the corner of Try street and Second avenue. He subsequently^ 
associated with him Wm. Best, under the firm of Phillips & Best. Subsequently 
Mr. Phillips disposed of his interest, and Mr. Best also retiring from the business 
the works ceased to exist about 1868-70. 

In 1841 Alex. Chambers, David H. Chambers and John Agnew established a 
factory for the making of green glass in what was then the Fifth ward of the city,, 
under the style of Chambers & Agnew. Subsequently John Agnew retired and 

Anderson and Alex, and David H. Chambers formed a copartnership, under 

the style of Anderson, Chambers & Co., to manufacture window glass and vials.^ 
and built works in Birmingham at what is now the corner of South Sixth and 
Bingham streets. 



188 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

In 1843 the firm became A. & D. H. Chambers, Mr. Anderson retiring. D. H. 
Chambers died in 1862, in Chicago, but the business was continued under the 
management of Alex. Chambers under the same firm style. Mr. Alex. Chambers 
died in 1875, and his son, James A. Chambers, succeeded to the business, and con- 
tinues the business under the style of A. & D. H. Chambers. 

In 1849 Wilson Cunningham and Cunningham organized a firm under 

the style of Cunningham & Co, for the manufacturing of window and green glass 
and built a factory. In 1864 the firm became Cunninghams & Ihmsen (Dominick 
Ihmsen). In 1886, Wilson Cunningham having died, and D. Ihmsen having re- 
tired from the firm, the ownership passed to D, O. Cunningham, a son of Wilson 
•Cunningham, by whom the business is still continued. 

In 1851 the firm of Lorenz & Wightman (Frederick Lorenz and Thos. Wight- 
man), which, as before mentioned, arose from the separation of the firm operating 
the Sligo Works, took the O'Hara Works. Mr. Wightman subsequently retired, and 
the works were carried on by F. Lorenz ; when he died, his son, Frederick Lorenz, 
<;arried on the works for a few years, after which they passed into the possession of 
Fahnestock, Albree & Co., who operated them for about two years, in about 1860, 
1861 or '62. After that M. A. Lorenz, Thos. Wightman and Nimick & Co. carried 
on the works under the firm style of Lorenz & Wightman until M. A. Lorenz 
died, when the firm became Thos. Wightman & Co., and has so remained until the 
firm of Thos. Wightman & Co., Limited, was formed, which is the present style of 
the firm. 

In 1851, Adams, Macklin & Co. established a factory at the corner of Eoss and 
>Second streets, for making flint glass. Shortly after the formation of this firm, Mr. 
Adams began a series of experiments to demonstrate the practicability of the use 
•of lime as a substitute for lead in making table ware, with a view to cheapening 
the cost of its production. This was an important "new departure" in the glass 
making, resulting in making Allegheny county the controlling centre in table ware. 
The cost of lead made an important item in the cost of its manufacture, and the 
substitution of lime, it is apparent, would at once reduce it. Mr. Adams began his 
-experiments about 1850 ; and, although several times at the point of abandoning the 
-attempt, having " the courage of his own convictions," persevered to the crown of 
success. While for a few years lime glass, as it was called, suffered in comparison 
with lead or flint glass, as it was termed, continued practice and improved knowl- 
edge in the use of lime has resulted in the production of "lime glass" of as great 
beauty as the old flint glass, of which little is now made, except for the purpose 
of making " cut glass " or druggist ware, for which lead or flint glass is requisite, 
•owing to its greater weight and ductility. At this time, or perhaps a short time 
before, Wm. Phillips, of Phillips & Best, also began a series of experiments in the 
use of lime in the manufacture of glass, but does not seem, from the recollections 
of the glass workers, to have been successful, and it is freely conceded that to John 
Adams the glass trade of Allegheny county is indebted for that great advancement 
in the processes of its manufacture. The firm of Adams, Macklin & Co. was sue- 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 189 

ceeded by the present firm of Adams & Co. The works were, in 1860, removed to 
South Tenth street. Mr. Adams died in 1887. The business, under the same 
firm style, is carried on by the surviving partners, George F. Easton, D. E. Carle, 
Godfrey Miller, Aug. A. Adams, William Adams and S. G. Vogeley. 

In 1850, Bryce, McKee & Co. established a factory for the manufacture of 
table ware on South 21st street and Wharton street. In 1852, the firm became 
Bryce, Eichards & Co., and in 1866 Bryce, Walker & Co., and in 1882 Bryce Bros., 
under which firm style the business is now protecuted. 

In 1853, Bobe & Albeitz erected the factory for the making of vials etc., called 
the Eagle Works, which in or about 1855 passed into the ownership of F. Bobe, 
and at a later date the business was closed and the works abandoned. 

In 1853, F. & J. McKee established a factory at South 18th and Bingham 
streets, for the manufacture of table ware. This firm subsequently became McKee 
Bros., under which style it still continues, and the firm have lately erected exten- 
sive works near Grapeville in that natural gas district. 

In 1855, T. A. Evans established a factory for the manufacture of flint vials,. 
called the Mastodon, which afterwards passed by purchase to W. McCully & Co. 
About this date a firm under the style of Mulvany & Ledlie had a factory for 
making table ware. The firm subsequently became Ledlie & Ulam. Through 
financial difficulties the firm ceased about 1860. 

In 1859, a firm under the style of Johnson, King & Co. built and put in oper- 
ation a table ware factory on South 18th street, which in or about 1864, became 
King, Son & Co. In 1883, the firm style was changed to King, Son & Co., Limit- 
ed, and in 1887 to King Glass Co., W. C. King, president ; George B. Swift, 
manager, A. H. Leitch, secretary and treasurer. 

In 1859, Wolfe, Plunket & Co. established a firm for the manufacture of win- 
dow glass, which firm, in 1863, became Wolfe, Howard & Co. (John A. Wolfe, 
Abner U. Howard,) under which style the business is now prosecuted. 

In 1860, Hale, Atterbury & Co. established a table ware factory at First and 
Carson streets, which subsequently became Atterbury & Co. and so continues to 
the present time. 

In 1863, the Excelsior Flint Glass Co. were established, and began the making^ 
of chimneys, under which style the firm still continues. 

In 1863, Sheppard & Co. established a factory for the manufacture of glass 
ware, which in 1865 passed into the ownership of Campbell & Jones, and in 1886 
Mr. Campbell retiring, the firm became Jones, Cavitt & Co., Limited, Jenkins 
Jones, chairman ; A. M. Cavitt, treasurer ; and Henry Wilson, secretary. In the 
same year W. H. Hamilton & Co. built and put in operation a flint vial works, 
under which style they are still carried on. In the same year Plunket & Co. 
established a table ware factory at the head of 14th street, which subsequently 
passed into the ownership of the Independent Glass Co., manufacturing crystal 
fruit jars. 

In 1864 the Pittsburgh Glass Manufacturing Co. was established, erected works 
for the manufacture of table ware at the corner of South 8th and Washington 



S90 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

t-treets. This works afterwards passed into the proprietorship of Challinor, Hogan 
<& Co., and subsequently the works were removed to Tarentum, where they are 
still carried on under the same style. 

In 1866, Melling, Estep & Co. built and put in operation a window glass factory 
si Jane and South 22d streets, which firm subsequently became Stewart, Estep & 
Oo. In the same year Page, Zellers & Duff also established a window glass factory 
at South 21st and Mary streets, which subsequently became Duff & Campbell, who 
were succeeded by T. Campbell & Co. The same year Beck, Phillips & Co. also 
erected a window glass factory at South 19th and Mary streets, which firm after- 
wards became Phillips & Co., and so still continues. 

In 1866 the Richard & Hartley Flint Glass Co. was organized, and built works 
at the corner of Pride and Marion streets. These works were afterwards removed 
to Tarentum, where they are carried on under the same style of firm. The same 
year Ripley & Co., (D. C. Ripley, George Duncan,) built and put in operation 
works for making table ware on South 10th street. In 1875 the old firm dissolved and 
D. C. Ripley forming a new firm with other associates, under the style of Ripley 
4& Co., built new works at the corner of South 8th and Bingham streets, which are 
still carried on under that firm style. George Duncan also forming a new firm 
under the style of George Duncan & Sons, (George Duncan, Augustus H. Heisey^ 
James E. Duncan,) continued the business at the old South 10th street works, 
where the business is still carried on under the same firm style. 

In 1866, John Agnew & Son built a vial factory which firm subsequently be- 
<;ame Agnew & Co. In the same year Tibby Bros, also built a vial works at 
Sharpsburg, where, under the same firm style, the business is continued. 

In 1868, Doyle & Co., (Wm. Doyle, Joseph Doyle, John C. McCutcheon, Wm, 
Beck,) established a table ware factory at South 10th and Washington streets. In 
1876 Wm. C. McCutcheon retired. In 1877 Joseph Doyle retired, and the firm 
was continued by Wm. Doyle and Wm. Beck, under the same firm style of Doyle 

4&Co. 

In 1867, Knox, Kim & Co. established a window glass factory at No. 70 Carson 
street, which firm subsequently became Abel, Smith & Co., under which firm 
style the business is now continued. 

In 1869, Reddick & Co. established at chimney factory at South 22d and Jose- 
phine streets. This firm became, in 1878, Evans, Sell & Co., and in 1877, Evans 
^ Co., and in 1881, Thos. Evans & Co., having erected a new factory at South 18th 
and Josephine streets, and in 1887, Thos. Evans Company, John Gallager, presi- 
dent ; Thos. Evans, secretary, treasurer, and general superintendent. This being 
the largest chimney factory in the world. 

In 1872 the Rochester Tumbler Co. established works at Beaver, with office 
at 957 Liberty street, under which style the works are now operated. It being 
claimed that it has the largest capacity of any table ware works existing. 

In 1874 the Iron City Window Glass Works were established by a stock com- 
pany. In 1879 they passed into the hands of Wamhoff & Co., (George Wamho^ 
H. H, Gilfuss, George Wamhoff, Jr., H. H. Meman.) 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 191 

In 1879, C. L. Flaccus began the manufacture of flint glass vials and bottles, 
erecting works at Tarentum for that purpose with the business office at Pittsburgh. 
In 1879, Bryce, Higby & Co. established a table ware factory. In 1880, O'Leary 
Bros. & Co. built and put in operation a window glass factory. In 1880 the 
Phoenix Glass Co. was organized, and established their works at Phillipsburg, with 
office at Pittsburgh. To this firm is freely given by the trade the credit of the 
introduction of the unsurpassed colored table ware of Pittsburgh. To them is 
also due the credit of reviving the production of cut glass as a manufacture of 
Pittsburgh. The making of cut glass had died out in Pittsburgh, and for fifteen 
or twenty years the trade in that line had passed to the east, chiefly to the New 
England States. In 1885 the Phoenix Co. began the making of cut glass globes, 
and in 1886 the cutting of table ware. In consequence, Pittsburgh is again a cut 
glass market, as other firms are following in the lead of the Phoenix Co. This 
will also increase the making of pure flint glass at Pittsburgh, in which nothing 
but sand, lead and potash is used. The lead in combine with the potash gives the 
peculiar brilliancy of cut glass. To day there is no finer cut glass made in the 
world than is produced at Pittsburgh. 

In 1879 J. T. & A. Hamilton established a flint vial factory at Twenty-sixth 
and A. V. R. R., under which style the works are still carried on. 

In 1872 the Keystone Flint Glass Manufacturing Co. was organized and put 
works in operation at the corner of Third avenue and Try street, for the purpose 
of making flint glass chimneys. This company was succeeded by Geo. A. Macbeth 
& Co., the works being removed to the corner of South Tenth and Carson streets. 

The genealogy of the various firms from 1797 to 1888 have thus been given so 
far as it was possible to trace them. There were, no doubt, some firms which, in 
the fluctuations of the trade, have come into existence and after a brief commercial 
life ceased to be. There may possibly be omissions in the genealogy of the firms 
given, as in the numerous changes it has been difficult to follow the incoming and 
outgoing partners. 

This genealogical record of the successors of glass manufacturing firms of Alle- 
gheny county may appear to the casual reader as somewhat wearisome. It must 
be recollected, however, that the genealogy of kings is at all times historically in- 
teresting. These glass manufacturers of Pittsburgh are the kings of the glass 
trade and, possibly, the world their future dominion. 

Time works wonderful changes in all manufacturing developments, as the 
past forcibly illustrates. That the genius, ingenuity and research of men in the 
mineral kingdom will develop new substances, new combinations for the use of 
mankind, is not to be doubted. 

But in all ages, so far back as history or legend runs, glass has always been fore- 
most in supplying the needs and luxuries of the race, changing only in its beauty 
quality and cheapness. The firm hold that Allegheny county has, through its 
ninety years of glass making, acquired upon the art, is a guarantee that another 
ninety years will find it as far in the front and with as firm a hold on the trade of 



]92 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

that period as it has now on that of to-daj. This genealogical history of the 
earlier firms engaged in the glass manufacturing, their immediate success, and the- 
more eminent additional firms, has been given space therefore, not only that the 
progress in factories might be exemplified, but that a record might be made that 
when, perhaps, in another century Allegheny county shall again celebrate its cen- 
tennial, and the names of the present glass manufacturers be to the readers then 
what O'Hara, the partners in the Ohio Glass Co., and Thomas Bakewell are to us^ 
their commercial history can be traced. To present the progress of glass manu- 
facturing in Allegheny county in exact statistics is almost as difficult as to trace the 
origination and subsequent changes in the various firms. Of the earlier years but 
few statistics are obtainable, and even those of later years are not as full as might 
be, if it were not for the reluctance of firms to give details of business. Sufficient 
can, however, be presented to show how rapidly the glass manufacture has in- 
creased, the controlling position the glass trade holds, and the foreshadowing the 
figures make of its future. 

In 1797 there was but one window glass house with eight small pots, making^ 
but three boxes of a hundred feet each to a blowing; and the value of the glass 
made in 1803 was, at the prices then, of from $12.00 to $15.00 a box, $12,500; and 
glass cutting of a value of $500. Its produce reduced to the value of to-day would 
not reach $2,500, or less than the value of two or three days' output of a window 
glass factory now. In 1807 the same glass works are quoted in Cramer's Almanac 
as producing window glass to the amount of $18,000. 

In 1810, according to, "a cursory view of the principal manufactures in and ad- 
jacent to Pittsburgh" as given in Cramer's Almanac, " there were three glassworks 
in handsome operation, producing flint glass to the value of $30,000, and bottles 
and window glass to the value of $40,000." As at this date there were only 
O'Hara's and Bakewell & Pages works in the town, it is possible that the make 
of the New Geneva works are included. Beltzhoover, Wendt & Co.'s glass house 
not being erected until 1812. However the United States census of 1810, enumer- 
ate three glass houses at Pittsburgh, and the value of their products at $62,000, 
and mentions one glass cutting establishment producing $1,000 of work. In 1813 
there were five flint glass factories producing green and flint glass to the amount 
of $130,000. 

In an account of the manufactories of Pittsburgh made in 1817, by order of 
the city councils, two flint glass factories, employing 82 hands and producing $110,- 
000 of ware, and three green glass factories producing $130,000 of glass and em- 
ploying ninety-two hands are of record. 

The statistics of the trade from 1817 to 1825, do not anywhere appear to have 
been collected. For a portion of that interval, as recorded elsewhere, Allegheny 
county, and especially Pittsburgh, was sufiering from the general depression of 
trade consequent on the cessation of the war of 1812-14, after which a great de- 
cline in prices in all commodities obtained, being the reaction that always follows 
the high figures to which war demands force prices. It was in 1822 that the city 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 193 

began to recover from the commercial disasters of the reaction, and in 1824, a new 
window glass factory was put in operation. In 1825, Niles Kegister gives the val- 
ue of window glass at Pittsburgh at $135,000, being 27,000 boxes, and the flint 
glass product at |30,000. This latter item conflicts with the statement of the city 
councils of 1817, where the two flint glass house product was stated at $110,000. 
As there is no evidence of the flint glass houses of 1817, not running in 1825, and 
the firm of Bake well & Page at or about that date having increased their capacity, 
Niles Register was no doubt misinformed. 

In 1826 the accounts of that date show that there were at "Pittsburgh and 
vicinity " nine glass works in operation, of which but four were at Pittsburgh, 
there being included in the nine two window glass factories at the immediate 
neighborhood of Brownsville, one at Perryopolis, on the Youghiogheny, and one 
at Williamsport and the New Geneva works. There are no statistics of the value 
of the flint glass product at that date, but the total of Avindow glass is given at 
27,000 boxes, which is presumably of the same value as the same number of boxes 
mentioned in 1825 by the Niles Register. In 1831 there were four window glass 
and four flint glass houses at Pittsburgh ; there having been established during 
the past five years two flint houses, one in 1829 and one in 1830, and two of win- 
dow glass, although the exact dates when " put in fire " cannot be ascertained, 
the changes that occurred, and the dates thereof, not being attainable by the firms 
who, in some cases, succeeded to the occupancy of the works, they not being direct 
successors of the firms by whom the works were built. These eight glass works 
employed 102 hands and produced glass of the value of $500,000, 

In 1837, according to " Lyford's Western Directory," and '^ Harris' Directory 
of Pittsburgh and Allegheny," there were thirteen glass factories at Pittsburgh, 
six of which made flint glass, five window glass, one vials, and one black glass, 
there having been established in those six years four flint, one window, one vial 
and one black glass house. These factories employed about 550 hands, and pro^ 
duced glass to the value of about $750,000, as nearly as can be estimated, no full 
account being given in the authorities quoted. In 1856 a full statistical account 
of the glass works at Pittsburgh is given in " Pittsburgh As It Is," a volume pub- 
lished in that year. From it it appears that there were then nineteen firms 
engaged in the manufacture of glass at Pittsburgh. They worked thirty-three 
factories, each ^'orks having from one to five. For the information of the general 
reader it is proper to state that a factory, in the technical language of the trade, is 
a certain number of pots, varying from five to twenty, in one cupalo, under the 
same roof or connecting building. Of these thirty-three factories fourteen were 
making window glass, eight flint glass table ware, eight vials and two black glass, 
twelve new firms in the preceding nineteen years engaging in the business, erect- 
ing nineteen factories, of which five Were for manufacturing of table glass, eight 
for window glass, five for vials and one for green glass. These thirty-three factories 
being worked in 1856 employed 1,982 hands, to whom they paid $910,116 of wages 
They produced 6,340 tons of flint glass of a value of $1,147,540; 561,000 packages' 

13 



J94 ALLEGHENY COUNTS . 

of 50 feet each of window glass of a value of $1,123,200; 137,700 packages of 
vials, bottles and druggists' ware of a value of $320,250, and 80,000 demijohns of 
a value of $32,000, in all $2,631,990, the value of the output of the factories having 
increased in the nineteen years nearly 300 per cent. 

In 1865 there were, at Pittsburgh, twenty-two firms engaged in the glass busi- 
ness, working fifty-five factories. Of these firms seven had been formed since 1856, 
four firms having retired in nine years. The fifty-five factories contained 528 pots. 
Of these factories seventeen made window glass, nineteen table ware, eleven green 
glass, four vials, and three chimneys. It should not be overlooked that this enu- 
meration is by factories, some firms working from two to three each. These works 
produced about 400,000 boxes of 50 feet each of window glass, of a value of about 
1)2,600,000; about 4,200 tons of table ware, worth $2,000,000; the vial and green 
glass house 60,480,000 of bottles and vials, of a value of $2,100,000. Of the chim- 
ney house productions there is no statistics. 

It must not be overlooked that these nine years included the " war period," and 
the values are based on the high prices then ruling. From 1863 to 1864 there 
was shipped from the glass factories of Pittsburgh 11,633 packages or boxes of 
window glass to eastern cities, and 233,037 west; 141,646 boxes and barrels of glass 
ware east, and 308,009 west. In the same time Pittsburgh glass manufacturers 
jDaid $174,375.11 of internal revenue, or seventy-four per cent, of all the revenue 
from glass in Pennsylvania, and twenty-nine per cent, of all from the United 
States ; and in the period from March, 1865, to March, 1866, $276,364.44. In 
1876, as shown in Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the Centennial Year, a volume pub- 
lished in that year, there were thirty-eight firms, working seventy-three factories, 
having 690 pots. Of these twenty-four were window glass factories, having 234 
pots ; twenty-five were table glass factories, having 262 pots ; eight were vial bot- 
tle and druggist ware factories, having 66 pots ; eleven were green glass, or bottle 
and jar factories, having 75 pots ; and nine chimney factories, having 90 pots. The 
window glass factories were then producing 840,000 boxes of 50 feet each of lights, 
weighing 29,400 tons, and of a value, at the rates in that year, of $2,500,000. The 
table ware factories produced 15,000 tons of table ware, of a value of $2,225,000 ; 
the vial factories articles to the value of $500,000; the green glass houses, bottles, 
fruit jars, and similar wares, to the value of $1,350,000 ; the chimney factories, 
16,200,000 chimneys to the value of $600,000. 

In the period from 1865 to 1876, owing to the reaction from the high prices of 
the war years, the selling rate of glass had suffered large declines, and, therefore, 
while the sum total of the values do not exhibit a large increase over those of 
1865, as given, yet it will be noted they exceed those of that date by about 
$1,000,000, even under the great reductions in cost. The entire value of the pro- 
duction of 1876 being given at over $7,000,000. At that time there were employed 
in the various factories 5,248 hands, whose wages amounted to $3,479,000 a year; 
and the capital in the buildings, machinery and grounds was $4,137,587, and the 
sj);T.2e occupied by the grounds 208 acres. In the period from 1865 to 1876 there 
wa.s a rapid increase in the number of firms engaging in the business. 



GZ'ASS MANUFACTURING. 195 

Five new firms being formed to manufacture window glass ; five to make table 
■ware ; two to make vials and druggists' ware ; one to make green glass ; and four 
to make chimneys. An increase of seventeen factories, having 237 pots, being a 
growth in the ten years, equal to ninety per cent, in the number of all the firms 
from 1795 to 1856, and about seventy-five per cent, on the number of factories. 
And' an increase in firms over those in 1865, of eighty per cent., and over forty 
per cent, in the number of factories and pots, over one hundred per cent, in the 
production of window glass; nearly three hundred per cent, in the amount of 
table ware made : and twenty per cent, in the gross value of the product under the 
very large falling off" in selling rates, equal in many classes of goods to quite fifty 
per cent. In 1886, in " Pittsburgh's Progress and Industries " a volume published 
in that year, there are enumerated fourteen firms manufacturing window glass, 
working twenty-nine factories having 286 pots, with a productive capacity of 900,- 
000 boxes of fifty feet each, a year. At the rates in that year, which were greatly 
below those of 1876, worth $1,800,000. There were, in the same year, fourteen 
iirms manufacturing table ware at Pittsburgh, and two at Tarentum, making six- 
teen in Allegheny county, having thirty-six factories with 380 pots, making about 
27,000 tons of table Avare, worth about $3,500,000. There were also six distinct 
firms manufacturing chimneys, with eleven factories having 134 pots. One of 
these works being the largest in the world, as is also one of the table ware works. 
These factories turn out over 30,000,000 chimneys a year, other goods, such as 
lantern globes and reflectors, and the total value of their products is about $1,100,- 
000, beside the product of the table ware factories which also manufacture simiiiar 
goods. There were also four firms engaged wholly in the manufacture of vials, 
bottles and druggists' ware, having ten factories with 104 pots, besides the product 
of one of the window glass houses which made also this description of ware. The 
value of the product is given at $850,000. There were eight green glass works 
with eleven factories with 80 pots, producing 19,000 tons of manufactured glass 
worth about $600,000. Being a total of forty-two firms having ninety-three factor- 
ies, and working 984 pots, employing 8000 hands, to whom they paid annually over 
$4,000,000 wages, and made glass as before stated of a value of $7,500,000. In 
this decade the increase in the firms was comparatively small, but it will be noted 
that the increase was very progressive in the number of factories and pots, that of 
the latter being thirty-three per cent., and in the factories about thirty per cent., 
while in the capacity of the pots there was also a large per cent, of increase. 

There is also an increase of over fifty per cent, in the number of hands em- 
ployed. The figures quoted are, most probably, below the exact statistics, for in 
the three chief authorities quoted from 1856 to 1886, inclusive, the compiler 
deplores not being able to obtain full statistics for various reasons, and states his 
figures as below the actual facts from that cause. While the increase in the num- 
ber of firms, factories, pots, employees, and quantity of manufactured goods evinces 
a remarkable progress, the statistics of the total value of the products do not seem 
to be commensurate with the increased bulk of the production. This, as before men- 



196 . ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

tioned, is due to the large decline in the selling rates from 1856. That some idea 
may be formed of this, and an approximate estimate made by the reader of what 
the value would be under old time rates just before and during the war, the folr 
lowing ruling price at various dates are quoted. 

In 1854, what are known as Diamond goblets sold for $2.33 per dozen ; in 1864^. 
at 13.50; this was the "war period" when the cost of all things had been greatly 
increased. In 1874 the same goblet was sold for 78 cents a dozen, and in 1888 at 
40 cents a dozen. In 1854, wine glasses sold at $1.25 per dozen ; in 1864, the "war 
period," at $1.75. In 1874, at 50 cents; in 1888, at 30 cents. In 1854, lamp 
chimneys sold at $1.75 a dozen ; in 1864, at $3.25; in 1874, at 50 cents; in 1888^ 
at 24 cents. In 1854, pressed saucers sold at 40 cents a dozen ; in 1864, at 72 cents • 
in 1874, at 25 cents; in 1888, at 16 cents. In 1854, tumblers sold at 66 cents a 
dozen; in 1864, at $1.30; in 1874, at 55 cents; and in 1888, at 37 cents. In the 
comparison the articles chosen have been selected as those of a standard character^ 
as the glass ware of a more elaborate character would be only confusing, from 
different factories having varying designs and especial patterns. The ratio of 
governing prices are, however, similar. 

In 1854-55 8x10 window glass sold at $3.50 a box of 50 feet, and what are 
known as brandy bottles at $8.25 per gross. In 1864, the " war period," 8x10 win- 
dow glass sold at $3.75 per box of 50 feet, and brandy bottles at $11.50 a gross. lu 
1888 8x10 glass sold at $1.80 per box, and brandy bottles at $6.00 per gross. 

During the periods stated the wages of the glass workers have increased from 
those before the war about 30 per cent. In the same periods the preceding para- 
graphs show the great increase of factories, and the whole comparison shows how 
control of home markets increase manufacturing establishments, to the increase of 
consumption of material, the furnishing of employment, and at the same time re- 
duce the cost to consumers. The question naturally arises could such results have 
been attained without such protective tariffs as would enable American manufac- 
turers to compete with the European. 

A further exemplification of this is shown in the article of ordinary squat colored 
glass globes which the Phoenix Glass Co. began making in 1884. At that time 
this article was all imported, and the prices were $12 for ordinary colors, and $15- 
for ruby, per dozen. When the Phoenix came into the market the foreign manu- 
facturers began reducing prices to hold the market, the American manufacturers 
meeting their rates. The European maker then proclaimed their intention to 
crush them out, and the prices were reduced, for that purpose, to $4 for ordinary 
colors and $6 for ruby. 

Under competitions in 1888 these globes are selling at $2.00 for ordinary and 
$4.00 for ruby. This shows, first, what control of American markets by European 
manufacturers would cost the consumer there, for the inference is that if they can 
now afford to sell at the immense reductions from the rates of 1884 that the profits 
they were obtaining from the American purchaser were simply enormous; second, 
that it is by American competition that they are held down to the greatly reduced 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 197 

Tates of 1888. For under the inherent qualities of human nature it is not to be 
•doubted that could European manufacturers, by crushing out those in the United 
States, again obtain control of the market, they would endeavor to re- establish 
'the prices of 1884, as is shown in several instances by statistics. 

Third, that all legislation that enables the American manufacturer to maintain 
"his control of the home market and power to compete without ruin, is more to 
the advantage of the consumer than to the manufacturer, to say nothing of the 
advantage of labor thus having employment in making that which would other- 
wise be made in a foreign country by foreign workmen. And fourthly, that the 
•glass manufacturers of Pittsburgh, through the tariff protection, which has enabled 
them to build up the great glass business of the city, can now compete with Euro" 
pean manufacturers and pay labor the high standard of wages that have been 
-obtained by American glass workers. The inference is plain. 

The figures that have been given of the growth of the glass trade, as in com 
parison with its own ratios of progress, are instructively illustrated by the compari- 
iive statistics with the growth of its own population and -that of the south and 
west, and the increase of its production of glass. The increase of the business of 
-uny producing center with the ratios of the growth of its natural markets would 
be held commercially satisfactory if it kept pace in corresponding ratios with 
that market. At the date at which the manufacture of glass was first started 
in Pittsburgh, 1797-1800, the population of the city was 1,565, or about four-tenths 
'of one per-cent. of that of the western country to which the producers of glass 
-would look for consumption, which was 885,647. At that date the population of 
Pittsburgh was four-tenths of one per cent, of that of the east and west, and its 
production of glass equal to two cents per capita, and about four dollars per capita of 
the population of the town. In 1870 the population of Pittsburgh was equal to one 
and four-tenths of the west and south, and in 1875, it is recorded that the product 
of the window and green glass was $3,750,000, or equal to twenty-five cents per 
■capita of its market, and about %l 9 per capita of its own population, while for her 
trade to have increased in proportion with its markets and its own, it would have 
needed that it should have held the same ratio as in 1800. The statistics show 
that it had increased 500 per cent, more than was required. In table glass ware 
using the same calculations as to ratio as in window glass, they show that in 1810 
the productions were, as with population of the west and south, three cents per 
capita, and with the population of Pittsburgh, about six dollars. 

In 1875 the ratios were with the census of 1870, as about fourteen cents per 
•capita, for the population of the south and west, and as about eleven dollars as to 
the population of the city, of the amount of 1875. The production of window 
glass in 1855 was of a value of $1,484,430; in 1875 it was |3,750,000, an increase 
in value of production of $2,295,550, an increase of over 150 per cent, in twenty 
years. In 1855 the production of table glass ware was of a value of $1,147,540 
and in 1875 the value of the production was $2,250,000, an increase of 100 per 
«cent. in twenty years. In 1885 the value of the production in round numbers is 



198 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

of record as $3,000,000, a further increase in ten years of about 33 per cent, on" the 
production values of 1875, an increase on those of 1855, in thirty years, of over 
180 per cent. 

The best goods at the lowest cost create the most magnetic market. The fore- 
going statistics indicate that such has been the status of the glass market of Pitts- 
burgh. If it has been such in the past what may not it become in the future 
under the use of gas fuel, when thus glass of a quality not before possible is the 
daily product of the glass works. The table ware has a brilliancy of luster and a 
clearness, and the colored ware a delicacy of tint not to be attained with coal fueh 
Where that is used the sulphur flames destroy the brilliancy of the material, while 
with gas fuel the wares come from the " lehrs " with a brilliancy in crystal ware 
'before unattainable, and the colors in tinted glass glow with all the richness of the 
natural hues. The same result is apparent in window glass. In an experiment^ 
by visual test, it was found that it was impossible to distinguish any thing 
clearly through six plates of window glass made with coal fuel, but that the ordi- 
nary printed matter of a newspaper could be read with ease through three times 
the number of plates made with gas fuel. That the glass made with coal fuel had 
a dull, unbrilliant surface, while that made Avith gas fuel had the polish of French ' 
plate. Touching this, the following from " Pittsburgh's Progress, Resources and-- 
Industries," is pertinent : 

"A location to become a great and controlling manufacturing point cannot 
attain force from the possession of any one or two requisites ; neither can it leap 
into broad success, but must attain its growth through years of accumulation of 
skill practically obtained. While it may possibly be that a sufficiency of gas fuel 
may be found other places than in the locality of Pittsburgh and its vicinity, the 
accumulation of three generations of practical skill now indigenous to Pittsburgh 
will be of slow concentration elsewhere, and while the pen that may a score of 
years hence record the manufacturing growth of the country will no doubt have 
mention to make of other glass producing centers, the statistics will show no fall- 
ihg off in Pittsburgh's progress in her glass trade. Competition may develop 
economies that may reduce prices, and rivalries invite attempts at superiorities in 
qualities, but at Pittsburgh all that will keep the glass trade of the city in advance 
is more possible than at any other location." 

The improvement in the quality and beauty of the glass from their factories,, 
has at all times been a consideration with the glass manufacturers of Allegheny- 
county, and while that has gone hand in hand with the effort to cheapen the cost,, 
quality has not been sacrificed to cheapness, and the best material an end to be 
reached. Sand is a large factor in glass making, and as glass is to a great extent 
but melted silica, the best and purest of that ingredient is desirable. About 183Pr 
L. M. Speer originated a method of preparing sand by a methodical manner, that 
cleaned it of much of its impurities or earthy matter through washing. Shortly 
after N. Q. Speer originated the method of conveying sand through a series of 
screens, by which the cost of washing was cheapened. Formerly it took two men 
a day to wash five tons of sand, by Mr. Speer's method the same number of mem 
can grind and wash 100 tons. 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 199 

By this the finest deposits of sandstone, yielding the better quality of silica, 
became utilized, and a mountain composed almost entirely of fine silica, from 100 
to 300 feet high and a mile in length, near Huntington, became available. It is 
the most extensive deposit of flint sand yet discovered, and contains enough to 
supply the glass factories of the world for unlimited time. It is controlled by the 
Speer White Sand Co., of Pittsburgh, and the glass manufacturers of that city 
have at their doors almost enormous supplies of this basis of their glass and of the 
best quality. Pittsburgh seems to be unexceptionably located in respect to all 
things to enable it to hold not only the leadership in the making of glass, but also 
in all her other staples. In the earlier paragraphs of the history of glass making 
in Allegheny county mention is made of the difficulties experienced by O'Hara in 
the making of pots for his furnace. This was an accompaniment of all the earlier 
glass works, but was gradually overcome as the factories increased. When, how- 
ever, the industry grew to greater proportions, the demand for pots originated a 
new branch of business connected with glass manufacturing, and the making of 
pots for glass furnaces becoming a distinct business. Pots are the foundations of 
glass making, as in them the materials are fused, and were made for many years 
in the respective factories. 

The process of pot making is a slow one, and the average life of a pot is about 
four months; this required the factories to carry a large stock on hand to be at all 
times prepared with new pots, which good glass required. They are made in 
batches of from eight to ten, from clay, that of Missouri having taken the place 
of late years of imported clays. In the making of them they are built up only 
about eight inches at a time, by hand, and then stand two or three days to stiffen^ 
when a new layer is added, the clay having to stand about two months to mellow- 
before using. It takes about three weeks to build a pot, which then has to stand 
from three to four months to temper before it can be used, and the whole time be* 
fore the pot is ready to use, from the time of its commencement, is about five 
months. This was the difficulty that O'Hara encountered. His clays were all 
brought over the mountains, and, as mentioned, had often to be used before dried 
and tempered sufficiently, and thus frequently melted at the first heating. To 
keep a large factory properly supplied with pots necessitated not only keeping a 
stock of clays on hand, but a quantity of pots, so that the supply should be ample. 
As the number of factories increased the competition began to cheapen the price 
of glass. Economies began to be studied by the manufacturers, and among them 
the lessening of the cost of new pots. This led, as before observed, to the estab- 
lishment of Glsss Pot Factories, by which the manufacturers of glass were enabled, 
without the expense of carrying heavy stocks of clays and pots, to keep themselves 
at all times supplied quickly. It will be seen that "pot factories" were not only 
necessary to the progress of glass making at Pittsburgh, but became more of a re- 
quisite as the industry increased. 

The business was established in 1860 in an old stable on the South Side bv 
Thomas Coffin, a native of New Hampshire, who came to Pittsburgh in 1856 to 



200 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

work in the O'Hara Glass Co.'s factory. Mr. Coffin afterwards removed his factory 
to South Tenth street, requiring greater facilities, and afterwards established a 
branch at St. Louis, in order to work a clay mine at Missouri. Pot making has 
increased with the growth of glass making, until there is now over 4,000 pots a 
year made in Allegheny county, of a value of about $200,000, and this branch of 
the glass making employs about 235 men, to whom wages to the amount of $90,000 
are paid, and the product of their labor is shipped to all points of the United 
States and Canada. 

The manufacture of the silicate of soda also is among the advances in glass and 
glass material, in Allegheny county. This is a vitreous substance being really 
glass but held in solution, only not taken from pots, and made into vases and win- 
dow panes. It has been made for several years in Europe and the east, but its 
manufacture was only begun at Pittsburgh by C. C. Beggs & Co. in 1887. The 
purposes to which it may be applied are wide. Among the purposes to which it 
may be applied is the welding of steel, by surgeons for the setting of limbs, for the 
coating of barrels and walls, and for insulation purposes, and promises to become 
an important factor in the use of electricity. Although but a young offshoot ot 
glass making in Allegheny county, it is proper that it should be mentioned as like- 
ly to add to the future reputation of all that relates to the county's prominence in 
glass or its components.. 

In connection with the pioneer character of Allegheny county, noted in other 
branches of the business, there is one which has grown out of the glass making, 
that should be mentioned. In 1884, H. L. Dixon & Co. established works for the 
construction of glass works in all their details and also other glass construction 
work. A similar departure in the iron business has previously been noted, and it 
is a notable feature in the progress of the county, that in two of its leading indus- 
tries, that not only for manufactures pertaining to them, the county should be fa- 
mous but is laying a foundation for future fame in a reputation for furnishing com- 
plete plants for the production of the staples for which it is renowned. In 1888 
the firm of IT, L. Dixon & Co. became Dixon, Wood & Co., they furnish with the 
exception of the wall a glass house complete to order, furnaces, lehrs, lehr pans, 
pot arches, glorie holes and the iron work and put them in position for work. 
This is done no where else in the United States. 

There is a historical value attached to the origination of any industry and a 
proper local pride in its birth place, and this new pioneer feature of Allegheny 
county is mentioned, because it will in future histories of the glass manufactories 
in the United States have a historic interest. 

The making of stained glass is among the manufactures of Pittsburgh, and was 
established in 1852 by Wm. Nelson, at the corner of Water and Ferry streets. 
There are three establishments producing this decorative glass, employ about 60 
hands and produce from $150,000 to $200,000 of work annually. This branch of 
the glass industry of Allegheny county has made great advances in its artistic de- 
velopment since it was first established nearly forty years ago, and Pittsburgh has 



GLASS MANUFACTURING. 201 

to-day the largest atlier west of Philadelphia. The stained glass windows of Ihe 
cathedrals of Europe, the work of the old masters three or four centuries ago, are 
renowned as art treasures. It is among the possibilities that Allegheny county 
and Pittsburgh will be famous for their art windows. 

The manufacture of plate glass was also established in Allegheny county in 1883, 
by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., at Creighton station on the West Penn E. K., 
near Tarentum. These works employ from 700 to 800 hands, and manufacture 
plate glass of as large sizes as 15 by 12 feet, and of an average thickness of three 
eighths of an inch. The product of these works is about 40,000 feet a week, with 
a capacity for much more. The result of glass making at Pittsburgh has been 
again to confer a general benefit on the public. Before plate glass was made in 
the United States the price of imported plate glass was as high as |2.50 a square 
foot. It has now declined to $.70. The first attempt to make plate glass was at 
Lenox, Mass., but was not a success. It was afterwards made at New Albany, MQ.O^y^-w 
by J. B. Ford and W. C. Depaw. In 1883, J. B. Ford, induced by the advantages 
for glass making at Pittsburgh and the desirability of gas fuel, established in Alle- 
gheny county, as before mentioned, the works indicated. 

The making of glass moulds is also an adjunct, and a very important one, to 
the manufacture of glass. This branch of manufacture is not, as its title might 
suggest to the uninformed, the production of moulds of glass, but the making of 
iron and steel moulds in which the forms of the glass table ware of Pittsburgh is 
formed. The simplicity and ease with which by these moulds the beautiful forms 
of the goblets, pitchers, vases, fruit dishes and all the numerous articles of glass- 
ware are made requires to be seen to be understood. In these moulds the glass in 
its fluid state is pressed into the required form with the greatest facility, but it is 
to the skill of the mould maker that the perfect result in the pressed ware is due. 
There are four glass mould making establishments in Pittsburgh. The largest of 
these was established in 1857, and it is another exemplification of the progress of 
Pittsburgh factories. When first started twenty-nine years ago the space occupied 
was 12x8 feet, and the works have now an area of 72x80 feet, two stories in 
height. As the moulds in their finished state are of comparatively small bulk the 
space just mentioned is indicative of a large increase of business from that which 
was turned out in the 12x8 shop of 1857. The presses and moulds from this es- 
tablishment are in use in the glass works of Scotland, England, France, Belgium, 
Bohemia, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Denmark and even Japan, as well 
as throughout the United States and Canada, It is not a little singular to note in 
connection with this how little by little the products of Pittsburgh are finding 
their markets in foreign countries, a foreshadowing of a cosmopolitan trade in the 
future. The four glass mould factories employ about 70 hands, and the value of the 
moulds made about $150,000 to $175,000 a year. 

From the making of the first window glass blown in Allegheny to the period 
when its business men began to ship complete glass houses and factories, the narra- 
tive of the glass industry of the county has been sketched. Though much remains 



202 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

untold of iis co-relative branches and connected industries, enough has been said 
to outline its history and inform the reader of its growth. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

Natural Gas. 

A knowledge of the introduction and use of natural gas in Allegheny county's 
workshops and houses is widespread, and there are few sections of the United 
States and even Europe that the fact is not a familiar one. Its existence, its prac- 
tical use and the advantage of it which it has given the manufacturers of Alle- 
gheny county are well understood, and require no argumentative description. As 
to what it is, how or when it was formed, and the possible continuance of the 
supply, theories on theories have been promulgated without any elucidating result. 
The simple fact remains that in this strange vapor of the earth Allegheny county ' 
seems to have the nearest to inexhaustable quantity provided it should not ex- 
haust. That time alone will tell. It is sufficient that it has furnished the manu- 
facturers of Allegheny county with a fuel which gives them numerous advantages, 
and its household comforts and pleasures that are to its people a daily theme, 
although its use is so general tliat it should be an old story. 

While its practical use has thus been conferred upon the people of Alle- 
gheny county, the result will be to the world. So long as the manufactureis 
of the county have natural gas fuel they hold all others at disadvantage. It is 
a natural characteristic of the human nature to equalize conditions by artificial 
means if the natural appliances are wanting. As gas fuel has been so fully tested 
in Allegheny county as to demonstrate its advantages and superiority to all others 
manufacturers elsewhere must equalize its advantages. This can only be done by 
the use of artificial gases where the natural vapor cannot be had. In bringing 
about such a necessity the people of Allegheny county have conferred a benefit 
on all others. As long as natural gas, although so long known to exist, remained 
without practical application to the world's industries, so long would no effort 
have been made to obtain the advantages that gas fuel gives. Having been put 
to use and all its benefits demonstrated the manufacturing world must needs be- 
come homogenous in its use. In "Pittsburgh's Progress, Eesources and Industries," 
it is said : 

There is but one Pittsburgh. As yet the development of the world has dis- 
closed no one locality where the same natural forces and advantages are grouped. 
Some of each other localities may possess ; but, whatever the future may unfold, 
to-day there is not in the woild a community with the same grouping of wealth- 
creating powers, natural and artificial ; a city whose steady progress is so assured, 
if the same factors of wealth and manufacturing growth shall continue to be of 
force in the future as in the past. 



]sAlUliAL GAS. 203 

It is claimed in " Pittsburgh As It Is," published in 1857, "That hereafter 
Pittsburgh will be the most progressive and accumulative city in the Union." 
This assertion was made under the statistics of her past progress as a manufactur- 
ing center through the force of her coal fuel, and the cheapness and facility with 
which, by her railway and water transportations, the material could reach the fuel 
and be re-distributed in its manufactured forms. Since that assertion was made- 
the fuel force of Pittsburgh has received a reinforcement that is exciting the man- 
ufacturing world. Known by the popular term of "Natural Gas," this vapor has^^ 
— in all things where fuel is a factor in the product of manufactured articles — 
supplanted coal and given Pittsburgh as great a "foreset" in manufacturing as in 
past years her coal. 

Coal has been a wonderful power in the great manufacturing developments of 
the world. Results being greater where the coal fuel was cheapest and the most 
abundant. Great as has been the power of coal to give manufacturing advantages,. 
and favored as was the locality where this mineral abundantly existed, in con- 
junction with other advantages, yet greater will be the power of natural gas. 
Pittsburgh has been the first to utilize and bind this new power to her car of 
progress. 

It is a subject for comment that for the long period of years for which this ga,s 
has been known not only to exist in various localities of the earth, and in some of 
them issuing from natural pipeage in great volumes, that it was never utilized. It is- 
likewise still more singular that in Western Pennsylvania, where, from nearly the 
years that Allegheny county has been organized and even in the suburbs of Pitts- 
burgh, its existence has not only been a matter of common information, but its in- 
flamable nature and heat producing qualities known, that no effort should have- 
been made, considering the inventive and adaptive characteristics of the average- 
American, to utilize it, when it was in such close proximity to such a growing 
manufacturing center. There was hardly a salt well bored in which gas did not 
show itself, and to the great annoyance of the borers for salt water, the gas often 
taking fire and doing serious damage. 

On January 17th, 1823, John Klingsworth, Nicholas Long and Philip Klings- 
worth were boring a well at what is now the town of Grapeviile, when at the depth 
of about 300 feet the gas rushed up with great force, arfd, igniting from a fire in^ 
the cabin that had been built over the salt well to protect the workmen, burned 
them seriously and burned the cabin. 

For many years previously bubbles had been arising in the swampy ground in 
the neighborhood, which the school boys were in the habit of igniting for amuse- 
ment. This is now the famous Grapeviile Gas District. At about the same time- 
a similar experience was had by some persons boring for salt water in Washington 
county, through tapping a vein of gas. This was in the neighborhood of the fam- 
ous McGuigan Well, which, after it was sunk, continued to pour forth its immense 
volumes of gas, and having been ignited, to burn with great fury and heat for a> 
number of years before it was utilized, which was not till after the adoption of ga& 
as a fuel at Pittsburgh. 



204 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

An individual, impressed with the value of this gas as a fuel, some years pre- 
vious obtained control of this well, and spent much time and money in endeavor- 
ing to obtain capital among the manufacturers of Pittsburgh to pipe it to their 
works, and was only politely laughed at as a visionary. A similar experience was 
had by Wm, Johnston, a practical oil producer and business man of this city, who 
secured a lease of the great Murraysville gas well, that for eight or ten years al- 
most stunned the people of the locality with the roar of the escaping volumes of 
•gas. Mr. Johnston sought to raise a capital of $50,000 to pipe the gas to the mills 
of Pittsburgh, and after trying vainly for one year to accomplish that end, aban- 
doned the enterprise, being, like the previous person mentioned, looked upon as a 
visionary. To repeat, it seems very singular, looking back on the past in the light 
of the present, that two persistent efforts to give Pittsburgh the great manufactur- 
ing advantages it now enjoys from the use of gas fuel, and with the knowledge 
fully possessed by intelligent people of its adaptability for fuel, and that gas could 
he conveyed in distances in pipes, that Pittsburgh should thus have closed its eyes 
4o its benefits and the gates of its factories against its introduction. There wer^e, 
iiowever, finally two associations of Pittsburghers who, comprehending all its ad- 
vantages for gas fuel, set to work and ventured money on introducing this fuel to 
the factories of Allegheny county. In 1874 H. Sellers McKee, Pobert B. Brown, 
Oeo. Trautraan and Wm. H. Aldred and associates, applied for and obtained a 
•^charter for a company called the " Fuel Gas Company of Pittsburgh." 

The object of these persons was not, however, to pipe the natural gas from 
wells, but to manufacture cheap gas from bituminous coal. The idea of gas fuel 
grew from this to a fixed fact, and the dawn of Pittsburgh's day of natural gas fuel 
was breaking. In 1875 the pioneers of the introduction of natural gas into the 
factories of Allegheny county came. In that year Graff, Bennett & Co., Spang, 
Chalfant & Co., J. J. Vandergrift, John Pitcairn, Jr., Henry Harley, W. K. Van- 
dergrift and Charles W. Batchelor, organized under the title of " The Natural Gas 
Company, Limited," for the purpose of piping gas from the wells in Butler county. 
The enterprise was much ridiculed and failure predicted, notwithstanding the fact 
that for eight or ten years previous natural gas had been used in the "oil region" 
for fuel under boilers, several of the towns in that section had been lighted with it, 
4ind in some of them it had been used for household purposes. 

The two firms which joined in this first natural gas company were to have their 
mills supplied from Butler county wells, 17 miles away. These were the Millvale 
and Etna mills, below Sharpsburg, on the Allegheny river. The enterprise was 
under Captain Batchelor's direction. The pressure of the first well was 130 pounds. 
The gas made its appearance in the Bennett furnace in 19 minutes from the time 
it was permitted to enter the six-inch pipe at the Butler county well. The record 
:goes on to say that the gas had actually flowed of its own pressure the 17 miles, 
through a pipe which in places reached an elevation of 400 feet from the lowest 
level of the line, undulations regarded by many at that time as fatal obstacles to 
success. 



NA TUBAL GAS. 205^ 

Thus was inaugurated the first practical use of natural gas as fuel at Pittsburgh ,. 
and the honor thereof belongs to Chas. W. Batchelor and the persons associated 
with him. There was, however, no immediate further adoption of the benefit 
thus brought to the door of the great manufacturing city. 

The characteristic caution and conservatism of the Pittsburgh manufacturers 
called for time to consider the subject, and some six or eight years elapsed before 
its use was fully inaugurated. To George Westinghouse, Jr., the credit should be 
given for this. In July, 1884, he organized the Philadelphia Company and had it 
ready for work in October of the same year. The rapidity with which the work 
was prosecuted in almost entirely a new field of labor is something wonderful to 
contemplate now that it is done. In less than one year's time the gas from the 
Murraysville wells was doing its work in the mills of Pittsburgh, and in the homes 
of the city, and in two years time it was in general use. It is difficult to compre- 
hend, now that it is of such common use, the small faith there was ten or 
twelve years ago in its practical utility, and that, as mentioned in previous para- 
graphs, the controllers of gas wells of the section were practically begging capital- 
ists and manufacturers to put money into their utilization. The bringing of the 
gas to the city and its efficient distribution in the short time occupied is in itself 
a subject of wonder. One may take a broad plain and through the gradual con- 
centration of population, in the course of time lay the gas and water pipes grad- 
ually required. Even that requiring ability. But to lay in the short number of 
months taken miles of pipes from 10 to 36 inches in diameter from wells 15 to 20 
miles away, and through the paved and built up streets of a great city, through 
net works of water and manufactured gas pipes, to convey as explosive and inflamm- 
able a substance as natural gas without any serious accident or the stoppage of a 
day in the work, is a great feat of engineering. Mr. Westinghouse's achievement 
is one at which the wonder grows as time elapses, and the full results are realized. 
The transformation in all things, whether in the factory or the household, was al- 
most like a page out of the Arabian Nights, and to the people of Pittsburgh it is 
still a wonder, and almost unrealizable. It has placed the manufacturers of Alle- 
gheny county on an eminence that, where fuel is the factor, and the improved 
quality of the product the consequence of that factor, they can not be competed 
with. It has made the city one of the pleasantest cities for residence in the 
United States, reduced the work of the household and added to its cheerfulness 
and beauty, in the absence of the drudgery, grime and debris of the coal fires it has 
banished. 

So much has been written as to the locality of the gas district around and in 
Allegheny county that it is needless to repeat what is so generally understood. 
Equally so is it to discuss the probabilities of its exhaustion or its possible forma- 
tion. Theories and theories have been given by those whose scientific attainments 
or information obtained from practical research entitle them to give opinions, and 
as yet it is all a theory. Although as to its duration, the fact existing that for 
many long years it has been in divers sections of the earth escaping in great volumes 



1>)6 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

>ind the history of the great gas wells in Western Pennsylvania, tend to the opin- 
1 -n that if it should be exhausted it is an event far distant. Should it fail neither 
the people of Pittsburgh or of other localities where it has been utilized could or 
will go back to the crude fuel of coal, although in case of such an event coal will 
be a factor in the creation of the fuel. Coal is, after all, but tanked gas, to a cer- 
tain degree, and while it is not desirable to make a gas works of a fire place, it 
will not be necessary in the future if the natural gas fails, since all that has been 
developed as to the economies and advantages of gas fuel have demonstrated that 
gas can be made anywhere and conveyed anywhere for consumption. Should 
natural gas fail manufactured gas will take its place, and Pittsburgh coal will be 
the factor as the best gas coal known. 

While Mr. Westinghouse, whose financial interest in natural gas supplies is so 
large, has no falterings in his convictions that the supply of natural gas is in no 
danger of exhaustion, yet with the wisdom that has won him success in many 
enterprises that have linked his name and that of Pittsburgh so closely together, 
he has been experimenting on a new process of manufacturing fuel gas from coal, 
bituminous and anthracite. The process has been perfected, and the company be- 
lieve that they have solved not only the problem of economized production of gas 
from coal, but every question connected with the distribution and utilization of gas 
under pressure. Should, therefore, the supply of natural gas exhaust Pittsburgh 
will have not only economized supplies of manufactured gas to supply its wants, 
but is likely to be, in addition to creating, by the utilization of natural gas, a pro- 
gressive revolution in the manufacturing fuels of the world, and, through one of 
its citizens, the agent in extending the benefit to all. The thought cannot but re- 
cur here again that has at time before arisen in this resume of the history of Alle- 
gheny county, of its pivotal character, that around it revolves so many of the 
advancements made in the progress in practical results, not only of this nation, 
but at times of the world. Dismissing, therefore, all questions of the formation 
of natural gas, its possible continuance, as well as future comment on the history 
of its introduction, a few facts are desirable as to its use. According to J. P. 
Lesley, State Geologist of Pennsylvania, one pound of coal weighs 25 cubic feet 
of gas, and one pound of coal has a fuel value of 7 2^ cubic feet of gas. S. A. Lord, 
chief chemist of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, says 1,000 cubic feet of gas 
equals 62.97 of coke of 90 per cent, carbon, or 52.4 of bituminous coal, or 58.4 of 
anthracite. The gas is odorless, because free from sulphur, etc., which makes it 
superior fuel for manufacturing iron, steel and glass — three of Pittsburgh's great 
staples. 

It makes steam more regular because of the continuous heat, there being no 
opening or shutting of the furnace doors, and no blank spaces between grate bars 
for the entrance of cold air currents, and it is estimated it will create twenty-five 
per cent, more steam in the consumption of a certain given quantity of gas as 
corresponding to an equal fuel quantity of coal. In the manufacture of iron there 
is a great saving in " burned iron," of which there is quite a percentage in the use 



NATURAL GAS. 207 

of coal. It increases the output, many mills increasing to the extent of 15 per 
cent, with the same amount of furnaces. There is a saving from 10 to 15 per cent, 
in wages in the reduction of the number of hands required for the handling of 
the coal fuel, from 15 to 20 per cent, in the cost of fuel, and nearly 15 per cent, in 
wear and tear of grate bars, fire brick, wear of carts, railroad sidings for delivery 
of coal, switching charges, artificial gas for illumination, and a score of other items 
each small but aggregating largely. The advantage in quantity of production and 
in the quality of glass is mentioned in the chapter on the glass trade, and the further 
fact can be stated, that in a glass factory where 2,000 tons of glass making material 
was used in a year, the saving of gas fuel against coal was $6,000 annually. It should 
not be overlooked that Allegheny county has in the gas fuel, although it is found 
elsewhere, the same advantage it has enjoyed in the past in coal, the greatest 
eupply. If the Pittsburgh capitalists and manufacturers were slow to take hold of 
the new industry they were enterprising enough when they became convinced of 
its value. Natural gas companies were rapidly formed. The Philadelphia Co., 
already mentioned, formed with a capital of |5,000,000, afterwards increased to 
$7,500,000. The Chartiers Valley Co., with $4,000,000 of capital. The Pennsyl- 
vania Gas Co., with $1,000,000 capital. The People's Natural Gas Co., with 
$1,000,000 capital. The Manufacturers Natural Gas Co., with $600,000. The 
Bridgewater Natural Gas Co., with $1,200,000 capital. The Allegheny Heating 
Co., with $500,000 capital. The Baden Gas Co., with $500,000 capital. The Ohio 
Valley Gas Co., with $100,000 capital. The Washington Natural Gas Co., with 
$500,000 capital. The North Side Gas Co., with $100,000, also The Acme, The 
Washington, The Penn Fuel Co., The Carpenters and The Bellevue, whose capitals 
are not given, being sixteen companies inside of two years, with a combined capi- 
tal of over $20,000,000, to supply gas to Allegheny county as the consuming point. 
In addition there were formed, with more or less Pittsburgh capital invested, 
eleven additional companies to supply points from 60 to 200 miles distant from 
Allegheny county, with a combined capital of $9,000,000. 

With the gas fuel within reach and known of, Pittsburgh was for forty or fifty 
years indifferent to its great manufacturing value. It was for ten or twelve years 
after a few nervy men had risked their money in the outcome of the enterprise 
incredulous and hesitating as to the probable results. But their faith in natural 
gas, its advantages and financial results, came in a flood that brought $29,000,000 
of capital into this industry. The entire statistics of the milage of pipes, number 
of wells and acreage of territory of these combined companies are not at hand, 
but from those that are some idea of the magnitude of the industry can be obtain, 
ed. The Philadelphia Company has about 600 miles of pipe, not including the 
pipe connections into mills and houses. The ga* flowing into its lines is estimated 
at 350,000,000 feet a day, and are now supplying 25,000 houses and 700 mills and 
factories, and employ from 300 to 400 men in the working of its lines, not includ- 
ing the small armies, amounting from 2,000 to 5,000 of men, laying pipes from fresh 
wells. It controls from 75,000 to 80,000 acres of gas territory, and supplies, beside 



208 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

the cities of Allegheny and Pittsburgh, twenty-eight other towns on the route of 
the lines. Tlie Chartiers has 95 miles of main lines, and controls 20,300 acres of 
gas territory, supplying 6,000 mills and factories and dwelling houses, and furnishes 
90,000,000 cubic feet of gas a day. The Peoples Company supply 4,000 consumers^ 
have 100 miles of main pipe, and furnish 20,000,000 cubic feet a day. The '' Manu- 
facturers" control 11,000 acres of gas and oil territories, and supply consumers 
along its 70 miles of line, with 25,000,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The "Bridge- 
water" controls 12,000 acres of gas territory, and have 150 miles of pipe, reaching 
nine villages and towns. The "Baden" has 5,000 acres of gas territory, 150 miles 
of gas pipe line, and supplies fourteen villages and towns. The statistics obtained 
are so incomplete that no full or approximate estimate could be given of the pro- 
portions to which the business of furnishing natural gas has grown. The three 
companies, whose statistics are the fullest, supply 42,000 consumers in mills, facto- 
ries and houses with 460,000,000 cubic feet of gas daily. The six, whose length ( f 
line is given, have nearly 1,200 miles of pipe, not including the connections run- 
ning from main pipes to consumers, laid to convey the gas to the cities and towns 
and villages they supply. And the three, whose data was obtained, furnish, be- 
sides the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, over fifty additional towns and vil- 
lages. 

When to this is added the miles of pipe, possible consumers, cubic feet of gas 
supplied by the other twenty-three companies, as by an approximate probable es- 
timate, the magnitude of the gas fuel business is astounding. It should be remem- 
bered that the great bulk of the business is that of Allegheny county capital, con- 
trolled and managed by the business men of Pittsburgh. The judgment that lead 
10 this investment was slow in forming, and the facts that gave the faith in the 
continued supplies of natural gas convincing enough to justify it. As an exhibit 
of something of the force of these facts, certain geological conclusions are briefly 
stated, quoted from Pittsburgh Commerce and Industries, and the Natural Gas In- 
terest, by George B. Hill, 1887, published by him and presented to the Bankers' 
Association, at their convention in Pittsburgh in that year. Says the publication : 

" In 1880 Prof. Caril after mentioning the enormous depth (three to five miles) 
of the stratified rocks in western Pennsylvania said, ' the Silurian and Devonian 
rocks lie at a depth which we may reasonably suppose would subject them to a de- 
gree of heat competent to all requirements of spontaneous distillation of gas. * * 
* * The great bituminous coal basin of Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, under 
which the Silurian rocks plunge from the east and northeast to appear again as 
they come up and fold over the Cincinatti anticlinal on the west, seems to be, so to 
speak, one vast caldron filled with deeply buried carbonaceous matter, subject to 
great heat, and, therefore, constantly generating gas.' 

"This was gospel in 1880, and^the writer believes there has been no reason to 
doubt Prof. Caril's conclusions since that time. Why should all the gasses from 
the fossiliferous series of rocks, extending to the depth of three to five miles, have 
concentrated itself into one or two of the strata near the top ? If the gas is no 
longer generating but gradually wasting from the topmost layers, the greatest 
pressure would be near the top ; but as a matter of fact the deeper our wells go 
the stronger the pressure and the more durable the individual wells. 



NATURAL GAS. 209 

" One thing appears to be clearly established, and that is, the gas wells bored 
into the great cyncline west of the Allegheny mountains, and parallel with that 
range, promise lo last longer where the cyncline is deepest, and Pittsburgh is over 
the deepest part. It it not difficult to conceive that the fossils of animal and vege- 
table life contained in a series of strata three miles thick would certainly yield a 
heat-producing capacity in gas equalling one layer of coal five feet thick. Imagine 
three miles of such rocks squeezed together for its gas product, the result should 
equal the calorific value of such a single coal vein. Yet the Pittsburgh vein of 
coal is only that thick, but still it is properly referred to as inexhaustable. 

" But as in the case of coal, so in the case of natural gas. We may in the fu- 
ture have to go deeper to obtain it, but it may be relied upon that improved 
methods of working for it, the result of gradually acquired experience, will ever 
be rewarded with success. At present we are simply skimming the surface for 
' gas nuggets ' near Pittsburgh, and so far the Murray ville and Canonsburg * placers,* 
so to speak, are so rich that we have no object in exploring much beyond or deeper 
down." 

For the information of the casual reader who may desire it, a few other items 
touching the procuring of natural gas is given. 

The oil sands are chiefly the tankage in which so far this gas is obtained, simi- 
lar in character to those at Tarentum and Leechburg. The depth varies 
from 1,200 feet at Leechburg, Armstrong county, to about 1,700 feet at Murrays- 
ville, Westmoreland county; 2,100 feet at the McGuigan well, Washington county 
and about the same depth at the Jones & Laughlin well in the city of Pittsburgh. 
In the Washington county field at Canonsburg there seems to be three distinct gas 
sands; one at 1,200 feet, the conglomerate strata proper; below that the 1,750 feet 
strata of the Murraysville district; and below that the 2,100 feet strata of the 
McGuigan well. In the Canonsburg district there seems to be no water in the 
1,200 foot conglomerate, as there is in other sections. At Baden, Beaver county, 
the gas is struck in the conglomerate at 1,500 to 1,700 feet ; and there is another 
sand, at about 260 feet below this, from which the wells at Economy, in the same 
county, obtain their flow. 

The cost of drilling a well varies from $3,000 to $6,000, according to the depth. 
From forty to sixty days are required to drill a well. The largest well ever struck 
so far, so far as known, flowed 15,000,000 cubic feet a day. The largest found at 
Findlay, O., was said to have produced at first 14,000,000 feet, but only yielded, 
4,000,000 according to expert testimony. A thousand cubic feet of natural gas is 
claimed to be worth as much for ordinary mill purposes as 1,500 feet of the best 
coal gas. As to the exhaustion the quotation given from Geo. B. Hill's brochure is 
quite satisfactory, that if it ever does occur it will be in the far distant years. 



14 



2i0 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 



CHAPTEE XIY. 



Oil Trade in Allegheny County. 

The oil trade of Pittsburgh is a story that for nearly thirty years has been re- 
peated often in all shapes and by all classes of writers. Its minor incidents are 
many, but chiefly of a personal nature interesting only to a limited circle, relating 
as they do to ebbs and flows of fortune, and not pertinent to any general narrative. 
Beyond some additional statistics there is little or nothing to add to the history of 
the petroleum industry. 

The primaries of this trade are as largely controlled in Pittsburgh as in former 
years, in most respects the city is still the head of the market. The direct refining 
business of Pittsburgh has decreased in the number of refineries, but that is attrib- 
utable to evolutions of trade that occur in all great commercial interests. With 
the increasing exportation of petroleums the question of transportation and econ- 
omies therein became factors in the trade, with the result of the creation of pipe 
lines by which the oil was piped to the seaboard. Under the same factors the 
number of refineries at Pittsburgh have decreased, and also from that inherent 
characteristic of all business that leads to concentration from economical reasons 
as capital therein accumulates. This has, to a considerable extent, been the case 
in the refining of petroleum at Pittsburgh, and is a perfectly natural business 
cause — one that will probably continue to produce concentrative results until such 
times arrive when, to use an old homely adage, "big fishes cease to swallow little 
ones." Under this and the natural business evolutions before cited, there has been 
a decrease in some of the divisions of the oil trade of Pittsburgh in the past years 
and in others progress. Yet, as a whole, it is probable that Pittsburgh is as great 
an oil centre as at any previous period of the petroleum production and the sober 
undercurrent of the oil trade is as well systematized and sedate as any other stan- 
dard business of the country. Under the opening of new territory populations 
rapidly concentrate thereon, and dissipate as quickly as the wells exhaust, creating 
a constant ebb and flow of business interests at such points, but all reflective of and 
to some chief center. Such has been the position of Pittsburgh in reference to the 
oil trade for the past quarter of a century, and such is her status to-day, which 
the new petroleum producing fields in Allegheny, Washington, Butler and Greene 
counties of the present date go far to strengthen. In all the various " hygerias " 
from one producing field to another, Pittsburgh has still been the great supply 
point of capital and machinery for developments, and the dominator of the market 
price, and thus virtually the central oil niarket, and to-day the largest factor in its 
condition is at Pittsburgh. 

After a quarter of a century of oil trade, with its depressions and "red letter 
days," it seems as if the new fields now beginning to yield might renew the ex- 
citements of the earlier petroleum fever. That they would is quite probable, but 
the experience of twenty-five years has given more system to the boring for petro- 
leum, and there is method now-a-days in the madness of the oil fever. 



OIL TRADE. 211 

The earlier years of the petroleum mining — if that term may be used for oil — 
was one of a speculative character, touching almost the verge of gambling. The 
natural geological peculiarities of the oil region, the lay of the oil bearing sand 
stones, and all the "metes and bounds" that in any legitimate business give stand- 
ard character to its prosecution, were wanting. To-day the boring for oil and the 
constitution of the production of crude and refined oil is on the basis of a legiti- 
mate business. The experience of the past has formulated the depths of the 
earth through which the well is sunk, and given intelligence to each strata of sand 
through which the drill passes, so that he who bores may read. Exploration and 
test have mapped the underground currents of oil almost as accurately as the sur- 
veyor the water courses on the surface ; and the purchase of territory or the sink- 
ing of a well is to-day undertaken with a reasonable degree of assurance, almost 
approaching that with which the mining for other minerals is prosecuted. 

The production of petroleum in Western Pennsylvania is generally accepted 
as having resulted in adding greatly to the wealth of the country, but this is 
rather a vague "of course belief," without knowledge of the statistics thereof, ex- 
cept by those immediately in the trade. A few figures, exhibiting the business, 
will not be amiss. 

From 1859 until 1884, a quarter of a century, there were 38,182 wells drilled 
in the oil regions of Western Pennsylvania. The total cost of these wells is stated 
at $170,945,100. The total production during that period of twenty-five years is 
given at 10,232,204,072 gallons, or 243,647,716 barrels, or an average production of 
46,515 gallons, or over 1,100 barrels, every hour for all the days and nights of a 
quarter of a century. Representing in its market value, as computed at the average 
price during those years, of 1431,220,220, or $20,000 of value for every hour of the 
night or day of the entire quarter of a century, in which Pittsburgh has been looked 
to and spoken of as the center of the oil trade. The same ratio of statistics are 
continued to the present date. 

It seems singular that Pittsburgh should have been within hand's reach, as 
may be said, of such wealth, and aware of its existence for years, and yet failed to 
benefit by a development of it at an earlier period. And the same singularity is 
noted in the development of the gas-fuel industries. At some future day this fact 
will be classed among the singularities of commerce, as well as the fact that while 
the same substance had been freely obtained in other quarters of the globe for 
many years, it remained for the development of the oil regions of Pennsylvania to 
force the introduction of petroleum as an illuminator upon the greater propor- 
tion of the civilized world. 

The following from "Pittsburgh's Industries, Resources and Progress," as giving 
the mineral facts of its early history are here quoted in preference to re-writing 
what would be but a repetition of the same facts, and while generally known, are 
necessarily repeated as are other facts in all histories : 

" From very early days this then called singular substance was known by the 
merchants of Pittsburgh and the people of Venango and Clarion counties to exist 



212 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S ' 

in those localities, but was considered as one of the curiosities of nature rather 
than an available article for the purposes of commerce. Found oozing from the- 
ground in very small quantities, or lying on the surface of water standing in small 
pits, evidently made by the Indians with reference to its collection ; a few gallons- 
was occasionally gathered by a process of skimming or absorption with blankets- 
and brought to Pittsburgh by the timber men on their trips down the Allegheny 
with their rafts of timber. It had acquired an halt-accepted, half-fabled reputa- 
tion as a remedy for bruises, burns, sprains, and rheumatism, and was occasionally 
burnt in its crude state as lamp oil in the vicinity of the pits from whence it was 
gathered. The dense black smoke produced from the burning of petroleum in its 
natural form, however, presented an obstacle to its use as an ilhiminator, save 
where necessity required an occasional resort to it. The principal uses to which 
the small quantities which were then gathered were put, was a species of patent 
medicine in the same rank as 'Seneca' and 'British Oil,' as a similar substance 
was called. In 1858, Samuel M. Kier, deceased, began experimenting in the refin- 
ing of this oil. Mr. Kier was at that time, and previously, engaged in the making 
of salt on the Allegheny river. 

"More or less of tbis oil was always found in the salt wells, and in those early 
days was considered a detriment to the wells, and the effort then was made to shut 
out the oil as much as it is now to case out the salt water. 'What fools these 
mortals be,' is the pithy sentence Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Puck. Yea^ 
verily ! Mr. Kier, in reflecting on and examining this oil, became impressed with 
the belief that it had great medical and healing properties. He accordingly ex- 
perimented with it for some time and then opened an office in Pittsburgh, and 
commenced bottling and introducing it throughout the country under the name of 
* Kier's Petroleum and Pock Oil.' Many of our readers will remember the mag- 
nificently decorated wagons which, nearly thirty years ago, where to be seen in 
every city and town in the Union, with pictures of the good Samaritan adminis- 
tering aid and comfort to the sufferer. The oil thus sold was highly recommended 
by physicians and others, and met with an immense sale which continued for many 
years. The supply, however, after a while so much exceeded the demand, that 
Mr. Kier conceived the idea of utilizing petroleum for illuminating purposes, but 
owing to the odor and smoke arising from it this disposition was deemed imprac- 
ticable by many scientific men. The first attempts of Mr. Kier at distillation were 
not crowned with that success that he had hoped for, but he persevered with his 
investigations, and making some change in the old style of camphene lamps, he 
made the important discovery that his distillate would burn under certain circum- 
stances. From this rude beginning he went on making improvements in the 
quality of his distilled oil and adaptability of his lamp, by the introduction of the 
' Virna' burner and the treatment of his distillate with acids, he had brought his 
experiments to a close and secured to the world one of the greatest and most im- 
portant discoveries of modern times. Up to this time he had enjoyed a monopoly 
in the production of petroleum, but the magnificent results of his invention led to 
the discovery of other wells in various portions of the State and continent, and 
from that day to this petroleum has been one of the most important products of 
Western Pennsylvania. The original 'still,' about 6 feet by 3 feet in diameter, is 
retained in the family as a priceless relic. 

" The first effort to obtain this oil in quantities by the sinking of a well has al- 
ways been accorded to Col. Drake, who is said to have conceived the idea in 1859. 

" Some six years prior to that Mr, George H. Bissell, when on a visit to Darts- 
mouth College, was shown a sample of this so-called Seneca oil, taken from the 
surface of a spring near Titusville. Desirous of further information, Mr. Bissell 
wrote to Dr. F. B. Brewer, of the firm of Brewer, Watson & Co., of Pittsburgh, in 
regard to this singular product of nature. From the answers received Mr. Bissell 
was induced, in company with Mr. Eveleth, to visit Titusville in 1854. The terri- 



OIL TRADE. 213 

tory on which the springs in which the oil was found was then owned by Brewer 
Watson & Co., although having some years previously been purchased by a Mr* 
C!hase for a cow. Messrs. Bissell and Eveleth leased the property for ninety-nine 
years, paying the sum of $5,000. Following somewhat the old Indian method, 
Ijefore mentioned, of " pit gathering," they began the obtaining of the oil by dig- 
ing trenches, which were allowed to fill with water, and it was then pumped into 
vats and the oil drawn off as it rose to the surface. It is a matter of curious men- 
tal speculation to imagine what would have been the thoughts of those two gentle- 
men could they "'i the visions o' the night" had a view of the 4,000 barrels a day 
well struck in September of 1861 on the Tarr farm. They had, however a vision 
•of there being " money in it," and impressed others also, for in 1855 Messrs. Bissell 
■& Eveleth sold one-third of their property to some New Haven capitalists, and a 
•company was formed, called the "Pennsylvania Eock Oil Company," of which 
Prof. B. Silliman, Jr., was president. It was this company that in 1858 employed 
•Col. Drake of New Haven to sink an artesian well. Work on this well was begun 
in 1859, and at the depth of 602^ feet the first vein of oil was struck on the 28tli of 
August, 1859. It would seem, therefore, that to George H. Bissell and conjointly 
Dr. Brewer, of Pittsburgh, this city owes whatever of mercantile renown and 
wealth has been derived from the petroleum trade ; and to Mr. Kier, before men- 
tioned, another Pittsburgher, the immense business in illuminating oils prepared 
from crude petroleum. This first well flowed ten barrels a day for a time, and tha 
oil sold at fifty cents a gallon. The production of the well, by the use of a pump, 
was, in September, increased to forty barrels a day." 

The idea of sinking a well for the procuring of oil in the Venango district was 
one of those pioneer thoughts that always mark an advance in the circles of com- 
merce or manufacture. And again it is to be noted, as in other cases, Allegheny 
•county was, though slow to begin the work, the pioneer. In this case, as in most 
others of a similar nature, the effort was met with ridicule, and the originators of 
the idea were obliged to prosecute their scheme through much discouragement. 
In proving that, by sinking a well petroleum could be obtained in quantities, made 
an excitement rarely witnessed in the commercial history of any country. The 
story that oil was being pumped from the earth as freely as water was at first 
-scouted as a farce, then accepted as a phenomena, and then believed to be a defined 
fact pertaining to certain tracts. Men were prepared to believe, from California 
experience, that it was possible gold might be found in such copious deposits that 
it could be gathered by the shovelful, but that real oil, excellent for burning, for 
lubricating and all the uses of oil, was being pumped from out the earth in the in- 
terior of Pennsylvania was beyond belief. When, after a time, it was announced 
that oil was not only pumped up, but that it gushed out of its own power, not by 
the gallon, but at the rate of hundreds of barrels a day, the excitement to embark 
in the business and to buy oil territory became almost a mania. 

From that day, now over a quarter of a century, the buying of oil territory 
and the drilling of wells has been a speculative as well as a legitimate business, 
and Pittsburgh has been the center of the producing interests. Whatever have 
been the losses in the ebbs of speculation to individuals, Pittsburgh has been a 
great gainer in the establishment of her oil trade. The world, as well, has been 
greatly benefited, and perhaps to an extent unequalled by few other articles. 



214 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

In 1860 petroleum was unknown in France as an illuminator. In 1861 forty- 
casks were sent there as a curiosity. In 1862 there were shipped 3,934 casks as a. 
commercial venture. In 1863 the demand for exportation was 29,197 casks, and 
in 1864 there were sent out to Marseilles 66,000 casks, and in 1875 the exporta- 
tions to foreign markets were 232,839,457 gallons, or equal to 5,543,796 barrels, 
and in 1883 the export was 673,906,817 gallons, or equal to 16,045,817 barrels of 
crude oil. In addition to this, there was a large quantity of the by-products also- 
exported, and the value of the export for 1883 was about |69,650,769. 

In 1876, the following, in relation to the production and location of petroleum,, 
was said in "Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the Centennial Year" : 

" While the crude and refined petroleum now bought and sold in the markets 
of and exported from the United States is chiefly the produce of some three of 
the counties of Western Pennsylvania, yet the petroleum indications undoubtedly 
extend in an oblique belt or zone around the earth, and its course is distinctly 
marked by the districts where it is already obtained for market, and by the points 
at which it crops out, so to speak, in the shape of oil and burning springs. Begin- 
ing with the Canadian district and passing south vvestwardly into the oil district 
of Pennsylvania, from thence to the Kanawha, then through Kentucky, finding 
the indications at various points, the belt passes into Arkansas, from thence to^ 
Utah, thence to California. Crossing the ocean it is found in Hindostan, from, 
thence, changing the direction to a north-westwardly course, the belt passes to the 
burning springs of Persia and the " Naphtha" of the neighborhood of the Caspian 
Sea. Still pursuing a north-westwardly direction to the petroleum wells of Wal- 
lachia, and finding traces through Germany, the British Isles are reached. Al- 
though no petroleum has yet been found in them, the coal and peat districts fur- 
nish, on distillation, coal oil. From thence crossing the Atlantic the Canadian' 
districts, from whence the departure was made, are reached, and the circle thua 
dotted out by actual production and unmistakable indications is completed. That 
this is one broad, permanent belt of petroleum remains for actual explorations of 
a long series of years to determine, but that at all the points indicated, greater or 
less quantities are to be obtained, is undoubtedly true. Such immense supplies of 
petroleum as this probable zone would seem to indicate might, almost, on first im- 
pression, lead to the conclusion that the obtaining of that article would soon be 
unprofitable; yet it should be recollected that the deposits of coal are no less, if 
not wider, in range. The progress of civilization as it occupies with fresh popu- 
lation and the manufacture and commerce thereof, the successive coal fields gives 
value to that mineral which, ponderous to transport, necessarily finds its consump- 
tion principally in the immediate districts of its production — while petroleum is 
transported thousands of miles to markets far removed from the locality of its 
production. Petroleum, therefore, beside being more than an equal necessity to 
civilization than coal, possesses greater advantages of being transportable to con- 
suming markets, long distances removed from its place of production. There 
would seem to be no fear so long as petroleum continues the necessity it now is — 
taking the general facts in relation to the existence, value and production of that 
equal primary necessity, coal, as a guide of oversupply. 

"It may be safely assumed that until it is superseded in all its chief uses by 
some other article as abundantly found and as cheaply produced, the obtaining of 
petroleum will always be as profitable where judiciously prosecuted as the mining 
for any other mineral substance ; and holders of tracts of good petroleum produc- 
ing territory will be as wealthy in proportion as the possessor of coal, iron, or other- 
producing mineral lands." 



OIL TRADE. 215 

As an exhibit of the progress made in the oil business by Pittsburgh for the 
period of not quite one decade from Mr. Kier's success in the production of an 
illuminating oil, the following is quoted from " Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the 
Centennial Year : " 

" As before mentioned, the success that followed the efforts of Drake to procure 
oil by boring soon led to such quantities being offered in the market as at once 
brought it into use as an illuminator and a lubricator, and caused the erection of 
seven refineries at Pittsburgh in 1860. 

" In the following year, 1861, there were seventeen refineries added to those 
previously in existence ; and in 1862 nine more were built ; and in 1863 fifteen 
more were constructed. 

" From September, 1862, to September, 1863, the export of refined and crude 
petroleum and benzine from Pittsburgh to the East and West, hy railroad alone, 
was 23,739,080 gallons, and yet an additional amount was sent West by steamboat, 
of which there is no record. Daring 1863 there was exported to foreign ports 
from the United States, 28,250,721 gallons. Of this amount there was shipped 
East from Pittsburgh 26,970,280 gallons, or nearly the entire foreign consumption. 
The value of the exportation in New York, in currency, was at an average of rates 
for that year, $9,102,472, the average rates for that year in New York being 28 
cents for crude and 441 cents for refined. The entire value of the oil trade of 
Pittsburgh for 1863 being nearly eleven million dollars. 

"In 1864 five additional refineries were put in operation. During that year the 
entire exportation to foreign ports was 31,872,972 gallons. The shipment from 
Pittsburgh for that year was 25,549,385 gallons, or 35,500 barrels less than in 1863. 
During this year the average rates for crude in New York, in currency, was 41 1- 
cents, and for refined 64| in bond. The value at these prices then, in New York, 
of the oil exported East from the city of Pittsburgh, was, in 1864, equal to $IB,- 
610,411, and the entire trade of the city about fifteen millions. 

" In 1865 the entire exportation to foreign ports from the United States was 
28,072,018 gallons, while the amount shipped East of Pittsburgh was 25,549,385 
gallons. This was worth in Pittsburgh, at the average market rates for that year, 
$9,929,096, the average rate for crude being 25| cents, and for refined 52 1-10 
cents. The entire trade of the city may be estimated at twelve millions. 

"In 1866 the entire exportation to foreign ports was 67,142,296 gallons, while 
the shipments east from Pittsburgh was 32,879,062. This was v/orth in Pittsburgh 
$7,421,085, the aggregate rates for crude being 144 cents, and for refined 31 J cents, 
and the entire oil trade of the city for that year did not reach ten millions. 

" For 1867 the exports to foreign ports were 62,600,685 gallons, and the ship- 
ments east from Pittsburgh 23,701,760 gallons. The average rate for crude was 
10^ cents, and for refined 44| cents. This would make the value of the oil shipped 
from Pittsburgh to the east $6,655,286 ; and taking for the home consumption and 
western exportation an average of previous years in their proportions to eastern 
shipments, the entire oil trade of the city for 1867 may be put at about eight mil- 
lions of dollars. 

"From these figures, most of which are from the actual statistics of exporta- 
tion and recorded prices, it will be seen that from January, 1863, to January, 1867, 
a period of five years, the exportation of oil from the city of Pittsburgh brought 
to it a business and a circulation o^ money amounting to nearly forty-seven mil- 
lions of dollars, while the whole trade in that period amounted to fifty -six millions, 
or an average of eleven millions yearly. 

" During those five years the entire exportation to foreign ports from the United 
States has been 217,948,692 gallons, and the shipments east from Pittsburgh been 
132,396,179 gallons, showing that Pittsburgh supplied over sixty per cent, of the ivhole 



216 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

foreign exportation of petroleum up to 1867. At that time there were fifty-eight re- 
fineries in the city of Pittsburgh and suburbs ; of these fifty -one were in operation 
and seven were idle. These refineries employed about 700 hands, whose yearly 
wages amounted to |560,000. The refining capacity of these refineries was equal 
to 31,500 barrels a week. The capital invested in buildings, machinery, &c., was 
then estimated to be $7,630,000, and in tanks, barges, &c., about $5,432,000. Nearly 
the entire amount of these sums invested had been distributed among the other 
branches of manufacturing in Pittsburgh ; having thus added to the business of 
the city in five years nearly thirteen millions of dollars. There was also expended 
in repairs annually a sum which, it is estimated, amounted to 10 per cent, upon 
the value of the investment in the refineries, barges, tanks, &c., or an annual ex- 
penditure of over one and a quarter millions per annum among the workshops of 
the city. 

" It would seem, then, that petroleum had added to the aggregate business of 
Pittsburgh in those last five years over seventy- one million of dollars, besides dis- 
tribution in the community for labor directly connected with the reiineries a sum equal 
to nearly three millions of wages." 

At that time pipe lines were only beginning to be thought of, but economies in 
the transportation to the seaboard for exportation was a subject of much discussion 
and also indications of those natural evolutions in trade mentioned in the opening 
paragraph of this chapter began to show. In the development of those two pro- 
gressive factors in the petroleum industry changes began to take place in the 
handling of petroleum at Pittsburgh and the refineries to concentrate. In 1876 
there were at Pittsburgh twenty-nine oil refineries, having 138 stills, with a weekly 
capacity of distillation of crude petroleum of 126,371 barrels, or a capacity of pro- 
duction of 95,000 barrels of refined oil weekly. This is a decrease from the num- 
ber of refineries in 1866 of just fifty per cent.; but it is an increase of two hundred 
per cent, in refining capacity in ten years — there being 58 refineries, with a weekly 
capacity of 31,500 barrels, in 1866, as against 29 refineries, with a weekly capacity 
of 93,000 of refined oil, in 1876. Although the refineries of 1875-6 were not run 
to anything like their full capacity, yet the proportionate increase in capacity is 
maintained in actual results under the partial runniug of the works. In 1866 the 
exportation of refined oil from Pittsburgh by railroad, to the East alone, was 424,- 
848 barrels, and in 1874 it was 1,247,641 barrels, being, in the actual amount of oil 
refined, an increase over the trade of 1866 of 849,696 barrels or quite two hundred 
per cent., in perfect unity with the increase of refining capacity, and demonstrat- 
ing an absolute increase of that proportion in the oil trade in ten years, as shown 
by shipments to the East alone. To this is to be added those to the West and by 
river. In 1875 this increase fell off from inability of Pittsburgh refineries to ship 
profitably, owing to the schedule of railroad freights, by which Cleveland was en- 
abled to enter the market more advantageously. The decrease caused by this 
freight discrimination was equal to 150,553 barrels; but even under this disadvan- 
tage the showing is still, in an exceptional year, a gain of one hundred and sixty 
per cent, in the volume of trade in ten years. 

The building of the pipe lines to the sea board has wrought a change in the 
Dianner of the shipments of petroleum to the East, and it is only in refined oil 



OIL TRADE. 'lYI 

that the shipments by rail are made. In the place, however, of handling the bar- 
rels of crude petroleum oil brokers now handle pipe line certificates, representing 
specific numbers of barrels. Under this system of dealing in oil immense sales are 
daily made of crude petroleum, through which the monetary value of the oil trade 
of the city is greatly enhanced. It may be said, perhaps, that the same certificates 
for any given number of barrels is sold and re-sold, and there is no actual oil 
moved. That is nothing more than occurred daily in the oil excitement from '60 
until the issuing of pipe line certificates ; the stocks of petroleum in the city were 
sold and re-sold and not a barrel moved, although ultimately shipped to the sea 
board or the refinery from the warejiouses. The only difierence now is, that in- 
stead of being in the city warehouses, or sold to arrive from the wells, it is in the 
tanks of the pipe line companies ; and, no matter however much it may in certifi- 
cates change hands, does as before, ultimately pass to the sea board or the refinery. 
The sale, then, of a thousand barrels of oil on certificates is usually the same as a 
similar sale on call in a warehouse, and representing an actual transaction in the 
market, its monetary sum, or its representation of oil, is that much business trans- 
acted. It would appear from the report of the Petroleum Exchange for 1886, 
that the transactions for the year represented 797,827,000 barrels of oil, and a 
monetary value of transactions of $690,067,760 at the average price of oil through- 
out the year. Of course a great part of this is speculative sales, but still it repre- 
sents that value of actual business for which checks were given or received. 

In the refining of oils, under the natural evolution of trade by which the mon- 
opolizing tendencies of capital are developed, there has been a concentration of the 
refining interests. Such changes are a natural result of the accumulations of 
capital and the necessity for its employment, and is not to be looked upon as other 
than a simple business result, by which the holders of large capital absorb, and 
those of less resources are absorbed. There are laws of nature whose action are 
inevitable, and there are laws of trade as well. While under such processes there 
may be infringements on individuals, the trade of the community is only concen- 
trated or changes its character, not lessened. 

There are now working at Pittsburgh 12 refineries, employing 980 hands, whose 
wages will amount to $490,000. The value of the plants was not obtained, nor the 
statistics of the actual output. The capacity of these refineries is 32,958 barrels 
crude a day. The yield of refined oil is about 75 per cent, of the crude, which, if 
the refineries were all running to their capacity, is equal to about 6,500,000 barrels 
refined oil a year. Of these refineries four pay especial attention to the produc- 
tion of high grades illuminating oils, as mentioned under head of " Illuminating 
Oils." 

As mentioned in the early paragraphs of this review of the oil trade of Pitts- 
burgh, Mr. S. M. Kier is entitled to the credit of being the father of this branch 
of the oil trade. Various illuminating oils were produced by the refineries from 
1863, The output of these oils at the present time is estimated to be of a value 
of $1,000,000, no absolute statistics being attainable. 



218 ALLEGHENY COUNTY ^S 

As to the total value of the oil trade "Pittsburgh's Progress, Industries and 
Resources " says: 

"The summary of the oil trade is one that, while showing a decrease in the 
actual number of refineries, still shows in the money total a large increase in the 
aggregate of barrels of oil sold. That a large amount of that is from the sales on 
the Petroleum Exchange does not make against the totals of the trade. A thou- 
sand barrels of oil sold on 'change, even if it is resold within a few moments, is still 
an actual transaction; the only difference from the habit of ten years since is, that 
now it is the oil in the tanks of the United Pipe Lines, where the producer's oil 
is piped, that are sold, instead as was formerly in the tanks and barrels of the in- 
dividual producers. That losses are made by those thus purchasing oil does not 
either make against the aggregate of the business nor decrease the dollar total of 
the oil trade. Each sale is a business transaction, and gains or losses therein are 
but us gains or losses in any other article in which men deal in expectation of 
profit. The dollar total of the oil trade of Pittsburgh, in the sales on 'change, 
the products of the refineries, the illuminating, lubricating, lard and other oils, 
may therefore be stated at $700,000,000, that sum being, in some form or other, 
accounted for in bank checks, drafts, or other cash representation." 



CHAPTEE XV. 

Copper, Lead, Brass and Tin. 

Manufactures from all these four metals date back to nearly the year of the 
organization of the county. Some of them had very humble beginnings. In 1807 
three copper and tin factories are mentioned in Cramer's Almanack, Gazzams, 
Harbesons, and Bantin & Miltenbergers, (Geo. Miltenberger.) In 1810 there were 
six copper and tin manufactories producing a value of 130,000. In 1808 a brass 
foundry, carried on by Thos. Cooper, is mentioned, and also eleven " copper fac- 
tories " in 1813. These latter, it is presumable in the absence of any fuller accounts, 
were simple shops for copper work, although in 1817 they are of record as produc- 
ing work to the value of $200,000. The changes and advent of new firms in 

Copper Manufacturing, 

through the early periods cannot be traced without occupying greater space than 
could be afforded in this volume, and would even then be incomplete. While many of 
the establishments did a considerable business, yet it was principally of a minor or 
jobbing character, producing work for local demands, and was of the same char- 
acter as those now active in Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, at McKeesport, 
Braddock, and Tarentum, and other suburban towns of the county. Manufactur- 
ing stills for distilleries, copper pipes for steamboats, kettles, and similar products. 
It was in 1840-1 that Pittsburgh became, in copper, a pioneer city, as it had 
previously in many other businesses. At that time the copper deposits of Lake 
Superior were brought to the attention of the business men of the city. Under 
the facilities for travelling, transportation, and communication that then existed? 



COPPER, LEAU, BMA^S AND TIN. 219 

that region was more difficult of access and exploration than is now, or have beerb 
during the past twenty years ; the mineral regions of the Kocky mountains, valua- 
ble as was the metal, great hesitation existed as to embarkiug in what was con- 
sidered a visionary enterprise, and involving too much capital to be risked in such 
a venture. The men were, however, found who took the risk, and enabled Alle- 
gheny county to claim the honor of developing, for the benefit of the whole 
country, the copper regions of Lake Superior. Curtis C. Hussey, Thos. M. Howe^. 
whose names are associated with the bringing to a successful point the manufacture 
of crucible tool steel in the United States, and Charles Avery, also William Petitt^ 
a Quaker, who was at one time engagied in the banking business in Pittsburghy 
after a consideration of all the information laid before them entered upon the 
enterprise. In 1841-2, Mr. Howe made a journey to the Lake Superior region, 
and a personal examination of the afterward famous Cliff mine property. After 
his return he and Dr. Hussey, as he was generally called from having been in 
previous years a member of the medical profession, with Charles Avery, William 
Petitt, organized the Pittsburgh & Boston Mining Co., in 1845, and associating with- 
them some Boston capitalists, proceeded to develop the Cliff mine, C. G. Hussey 
being the president of the company, and Thos. M. Howe its secretary and treasurer,. 
The effect of this practical manifestation of confidence in the outcome of the 
copper region soon had its effect on the capitalists of Pittsburgh, and a number of 
companies were soon after formed. The Adventure Mining Company was organ- 
ized in 1846, of which C. G. Hussey was president, and James M. Cooper secretary 
and treasurer. The Ridge Mining Co., in 1852, of which William Bagaley was- 
president, and Joshua Hanna, secretary and treasurer. The North American 
Mining Co., in 1850, of which Thos. Bakewell was president, and Waterman Pal- 
mer, who was in the wholesale dry goods business in Pittsburgh about 1837, was 
secretary and teasurer. In 1854 the Central Mining Co , (C. G. Hussey, president, 
and Waterman Palmer, secretary and treasurer.) The Aztec Mining Co., in 1850 
or '51, (C. G. Hussey, president, and N. Veeder, secretary and treasurer.) Also- 
the National Copper Mine Co. Several smaller companies were also formed and a 
large amount of Pittsburgh capital was embarked in those enterprises. From the 
mention of the names of the chief officers noted of the principal copper mining 
companies, it appears that Dr. Hussey was the leading investor. 

The financial history of these early copper mines it is not necessary to trace ;. 
they were immensely profitable, the Pittsburgh & Boston Mining Company alone 
having in the course of ten years from its organization sold copper from the Cliff 
Mine to the amount of $2,120,101, the expenditures for the same period being^ 
$1,405,719.58, and it has continued to be quite as remunerative. Mr. Hussey's in- 
terest in the Lake Superior mines led him, in 1849, in association with Thos. M. 
Howe, to build a copper rolling mill and smelting works at Pittsburgh, on the 
east bank of the Monongahela river, at what is now in the Twenty-lhird ward of 
the city, and embark in the business of copper smelting and rolling, under the 
firm style of C. G. Hussey & Co., in which firm style it is still operated, Mr. Hus~ 



1220 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

-sey being still living, although Mr. Howe died on July 20, 1877. Mr. Howe, 
whose business career has left its impress on many of Allegheny county's business 
enterprises, was born at Williamstown, Vermont, in 1808, and in 1817 went to 
Trumbull county, Ohio, with his father and family. In 1828 he came to Pitts- 
burgh, and became a clerk in the wholesale dry goods house of Mason & Mc- 
Donough, at the corner of Wood street and Fifth avenue. About 1830 he became 
a partner in the hardware house of Leavit & Co. In 1839 he was chosen cashier 
of the Exchange Bank, and in 1841 elected president of that bank. In 1850 he 
was elected to Congress from Allegheny county. In 1860 he was, at the urgent 
solicitation of the business men of Allegheny county, induced, against his own de- 
sires, to become a candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, but was not nominated. 
This digression is made to record briefly the more salient facts in the life of a 
man remarkable for \vs business ability, integrity and pure personal life, who is 
one of the historic business men of Allegheny county, and was the promoter and 
-active agent in the establishment of many of its important interests. 

In 1859 the second copper rolling mill was built at Pittsburgh by Park, Mc- 
Curdy & Co. (David Park, James Park and W. McCurdy). This mill subsequently 
■passed into the ownership of Park Bros. & Co., composed of substantially the 
-same parties, Mr. McCurdy having retired, and is now carried on by Park Bros. & 
•Co., Limited. The mill was originally built on Second avenue, about Soho street, 
and was known as the Lake Superior Copper Works, but subsequently removed to 
Thirtieth and Smallman streets. These two copper mills employ about 100 
hands, and the value of their manufactured product isfrom $500,000 to $650,000 
a year. 

White Lead 

is one of the manufacturing industries of Allegheny county that claims the aris- 
tocracy of age, and has its origination subsequent to the establishment of the first 
-glass house, but prior to thejirst rolling mill. As early as 1810 there were three 
"Red Lead" factories in Pittsburgh, producing that article to the value of $13,000, 
-according to a local census of that date. In 1813 there was one white lead fac- 
tory (Beelin's); and in a report to the Councils in 1817 one white lead factory is 
reported as employing six hands and producing $40,000 worth of leads. In 1837 
there were eight lead factories, whose product was 74,496 kegs of lead, valued at 
^206,000. These were Avery & Ogden (Chas. Avery, Geo. Ogden), H. Brunot, 
JB. McClean & Co., Maderia & Ashton (Peter Maderia), J. Hannen, Daniel King, 
Porter & Breckenridge (Judge Porter), Gregg & Wagner. 

In 1843 T. H. Nevin & Co. established a white lead works, which subsequently 
passed into the possession of Theodore H. Nevin, now dead, and as the time of 
his death president of the First National Bank of Allegheny City, which are now 
<?arried on by T. H. Nevin & Co. In 1844 B. A. Fahnestock & Co. established a 
white lead works, to which C. F. Wells & Co., now Pennsylvanio White Lead Co., 
is the successor. In 1832 James Schoonmaker also built and operated white lead 
works, which subsequently passed into the ownership of W. A. Stockton & Co., 



COPPER, LEAD, BRASS AND TIN. 221 

and is now carried on by M. B. Suydam & Co. In 1866 a new works were put 
in operation by Davis, Chambers & Co., and in 1867 Beymer, Bauman & Co, 
(Simon Beymer, R. Bauman) also erected works, which are still carried on under 
the same firm style. In 1870 Armstrong & McKelvy (Thos. M. Armstrong, John 
H. McKelvy) embarked in the business. In 1857 there were but three firms man- 
ufacturing white and red leads, but although there is a falling off of five factories 
in the number working, the three factories of 1857 produced 2,754 tons, of a valu& 
of $443,000, where the eight factories of 1837 produced but 902 tons, being an' 
increase of over 200 per cent. In 1875 there were six firms engaged in the man- 
ufacture of white and red leads, using 5,000 tons of pig lead a year, occupying an 
area with their factories of three acres, and employing 175 hands. The capital in 
machinery, buildings and ground was $450,000, or more than the value of the 
product of 1857, while the output has increased about 90 per cent. 

In the past decade this industry has, as well as others, become sub-divided and 
taken some new departures. Among those is a branch technically known a& 
"Paint and Color" goods, also the manufacturing of ''Dry Colors." As in 
other things previously mentioned, Pittsburgh has been the pioneer in the intro- 
duction by white lead manufacturers of that city of mixed or prepared paints. 
T. H. Nevin & Co. in 1875 making this new departure in the white lead business 
by the introduction of what is known as the "Pioneer Prepared Paints," and 
were soon after followed by Armstrong & McKelvy in the same line of paint 
goods. Ten years ago colors were principally made in New York, but few being 
made in Pittsburgh, but now the city is a leading market for these goods, and fur- 
nishes her fair proportion of the trade of the country. 

There are also six firms, those mentioned above as established from 1844 to 
1870, producing white lead by corroding pig lead, and preparing it in oil for sale. 

These six establishments corrode about 12,000 tons of lead a year and use 
about 300,000 gallons linseed oil and about 370,000 pounds acetic acid, and the 
product is about 1,050,000 kegs of twenty-five pounds each of white lead. In addi- 
tion to the above product of white lead they manufacture oxides of lead, viz., red 
lead, litharge, and orange mineral, 2,000 tons. These factories occupy a space of 
quite ten acres, and the value of the plants, buildings, ground and machinery is 
stated as in the neighborhood of $1,000,000 in round numbers. They employ 360 
hands, whose wages annually are nearly $200,000. Although the product of the 
white lead is given in a comparison of 25-pound kegs it is not all so packed, but 
kegged in 25, 50, 80 and 100-pound kegs and some larger packages, so that the 
number of packages used is less than the amount of 25-pound kegs of product 
given, and cannot be given in number. The value of the product is in round 
numbers $2,000,000. 

For over three-quarters of a century the corroding of lead and the manufacture 
of white lead has been among the "arts" of Pittsburgh workers, and is, as well as 
the skill so peculiarly native here in the working of iron and glass, one of the 
heirlooms descended from father to son in the lead factories of the city. The 



1^22 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

->\ hite lead of the factories of Pittsburgh are a standard of quality in the market* 
4ind deservedly so. 

A further manipulation of the pig lead after its corroding and manufacture 
into white lead is in the preparation of prepared paints and mixed colors. 

A decade ago the preparing of paints and the mixing of colors was a province 
of the painters' skill. To-day there are in Pittsburgh four firms who, as a branch 
of their white lead business, carry on the preparing of paints and mixed colors 
and packing them in cans of various sizes for shipment to all sections of the 
•country. These firms are : — Armstrong & McKelvy, T. H. Nevin & Co., M. B* 
Suydam & Co., W. W. Lawrence & Co. These four works prepare between 3,000,- 
OOO and 4,000,000 pounds mixed paints annually, for which market is had in the 
West and South. They employ in addition to the hands embraced in the white 
lead works about seventy-five hands, whose wages in addition to those given there 
will be some $75,000. 

In the corroding of lead, the corroders have at the very door of their factories 
the Pig Lead made in the county by the Pennsylvania Lead Co. Of this it is 
said in "Pittsburgh's Progress, Industries and Eesources," (1886,) which is quoted 
in preference to writing what would be but the same account : 

" To the enterprise of J. E. Schwartz the city is indebted for this important in- 
<Justry. The company above noted was established by Mr. Schwartz and associates 
in 1875 for the purpose of producing lead from the ores and base bullion brought 
to Pittsburgh from Colorado, Utah, Montana and Idaho. There are employed in 
the various processes of the works 120 men, whose wages will average $100,000 a 
year. The freights on the ores and base bullions alone amount to over $500,000 
a year. The products of the works is given at from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 ounces 
of silver a year, worth, at present prices of silver, from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 a 
year ; also 22,000 tons of pig lead annually, worth $2,000,000. The product of 
lead is disposed of to manufacturers in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore as 
well as Pittsburgh. The larger part of the silver product is exported to London, 
England. The works use about 9 acres of ground in their operation, and the plant 
is stated as of a value of $150,000. 

"These smelting works are another exhibition of the magnetism of Pittsburgh 
as a center toward which all metals seem to be attracted. Iron, copper, lead, sil- 
ver, all seek her fuel. The works just noted, although yielding but few statistics, 
is productive, it will be seen, of great monetary results, the value of its realizations 
being from $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 annually." 

A further manipulation of lead in Pittsburgh is in the manufacture of lead pipe 
and shot, which is prosecuted by three firms. In 

The Manufacture of Tin, 

the record runs back to the beginning of the century, when Jeffery Scaife, the 
grandfather of Oliver P., Chas. C. and Marion F. Scaife, and father of Wm. B. Scaife, 
established a shop for manufacturing tin in 1802, at Pittsburgh, and is probably 
the one mentioned in the view of the manufacturing trade of Pittsburgh in 1803, 
published by Cramer's Almanack in 1804, where it is stated that 320 boxes of tin, 
of a value of $40 each, were used in manufacturing tinware in 1803. There are 



COPPER, LEAD, BRASS AND TIN. 22S 

number of shops manufacturing tinware in the county, but chiefly for retail 
trade. Some of them date well back in the century their origination, but to follow 
their geneology would be uninteresting. 

There are, however, two very large establishments manufacturing what is 
known as lacquer, or Japan goods, and pressed tin ware, the manufacture of which 
class of goods was commenced by John Dunlap in 1839, at which time the pro- 
ducts were made entirely with hand tools. Now almost the entire work is done 
by machines. These establishments employ about 150 hands, and manufacture 
goods to the value of about ^400,000 a year. In the manufacture of 

Brass 

the products are varied, and there are now some fifteen establishments operating 
at Pittsburgh. As said in the early sentenoes of this chapter, there was a brass 
foundry in Pittsburgh as early as 1808. In the published records of the industries 
of Pittsburgh at various succeeding dates there is no especial mention of brass 
foundries, the accounts given being of the heavier manufactures of the city. In 
1820 John Sherifi" established a brass foundry, and in 1832 Andrew Fulton estab- 
lished his bell foundry, where was manufactured the greater portion of the bells 
of the steamboats of the West. In 1857 there were four brass foundries in Pitts- 
burgh, and in 1876 ten in the city, being an increase of six— Mansfield & Fitz- 
simmons in 1861, John Fitzsimmons in about 1865, Cadman & Crawford in 1863, 
now A. W. Cadman & Co.; Atwood & McCafir-ey in 1865, Wilson & Snyder, now 
Wilson, Snyder & Co., in 1875, who are also steam fitters, machinists and manu- 
facturers of valves, as are also A. W. Cadman and the others. The great demand 
for "natural gas fittings" having largely increased the products of this branch of the 
brass business. In 1886 there were fifteen brass foundries in Pittsburgh, which 
gave employment to 250 hands, and produced brass castings to the value of 
1600,000 to $700,000. In the past two years has been established a works for the 
producing of "artistic brass goods," which makes a class of articles never before 
made in the United States, designed to meet requirements for a description of 
brass goods heretofore imported. It employs from 100 to 150 hands. 

As has been said in a previous paragraph, the design of this volume is not to 
present a trade catalogue of the manufacturers of Allegheny county, but such a 
sketch of its hundred years as will give the reader a general knowledge of the 
more important public and political occurrences in that time and of its greater 
and more leading industries. 

Therefore no attempt is made to present the hundreds, perhaps thousands, dis- 
tinct articles that are the result of the skill of her workmen and the product of her 
workshops, leaving to the catalogue of the individual manufacturer such enumer- 
ation. It is enough to say that there is nothing in iron, from a steamboat or lo- 
comotive to a tack, that the ironworkers of Allegheny county do not or cannot 
make ; nothing in steel, from a rifled cannon or armor for a ship-to a watch spring, 
that her steelworkers cannot supply; nothing in glass, from window plates, 10 and 
15 feet square, so clear that but for its sheen there would seem to be nothing but 



224 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

air into which the gazer was looking, down to the smallest wine glass, so fragile 
that it would seem to scarce bear the weight of a butterfly without dissolving as an 
air blown bubble ; nothing from 1,500 tons of pig metal a day to a stove plate; 
nothing from an iron bridge to span the Mississippi or the Orinoco, to the tiny rent 
that holds the smallest bolt; nothing from' a wagon tire to a blast furnace or roll- 
ing mill complete. 

So varied are the products of the factories, that to-day the citizens of Pitts- 
burgh, familiar as they should be with the products of the factories around 
them, and with the character of the factories themselves, often find themselves 
brought face to face with some before unknown product of the county's industries. 
Pitttburgh and Allegheny are in themselves wonderful cities in that respect, and 
have been pronounced the " curiosity shop of the country." 

To-day Pittsburgh has the largest Bessemer plant in the United States, the 
largest glass chimney manufactory existing, and a table ware manufactory the 
greatest in the world. While other instances of the size of the manufactories of 
the city could be cited, these are simply mentioned as among the facts entitled to 
record. The tonnage of three of the largest of Pittsburgh's iron works exceeds the 
tonnage of the cotton crop of the south ; and the tonnage of the port, that of New 
York city. The heaviest iron roll ever made was lately cast at Pittsburgh, and in 
contrast with that may be mentioned that a Pittsburgh workman rolled iron so 
thm that it took 1500 leaves to make an inch in thickness. 

"^ As stated in a preceding paragraph, there is in these pages no attempt made to 
present in enumerated detail the thousand and one distinct products of Allegheny 
county's factories. The eflfort is only made in the historical account of its manu- 
factures and business, to show its progress by the leading industries to indicate the 
ramifications thereof, through which it is, year after year, acquiring new attrac- 
tions as a continental store house of manufacture, and a prominent commercial 
city as well. 



CHAPTEE XYI. 

Mercantile Interests. 



In a presentation of what may be entitled the mercantile interests of Allegheny 
county, it is neither necessary nor practical to present what is a similar feature 
in any city, town or village, saving in its magnitude in correspondence with its 
population, namely the retail trade. What may be termed its wholesale interests, 
except in a few more prominent retail branches, are what is of general interest in 
its history. Neither can a chronology of the past and gone firms of half a century 
ago, be with any degree of accuracy traced and stated, or the genealogy of those 
firms be given without too many errors as to dates and successions of firms coming 
into the record. 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 225 

The statistics are given, so far as could be obtained, of the wholesale trade of 
Pittsburgh in its various branches outside of what might be called manufacturing 
commerce. The trade here exhibited is strictly that of the wholesale jobbers, or, 
more correctly, merchants, although the first term is used as a designation that 
has grown to be almost technical as applied to wholesale trade. 

The term "Merchants of Pittsburgh" first occurs in Smollet's History, in a 
mention of the transaction of Major General Stanwix, at Fort Pitt, in the winter 
of 1759-60. 

In 1803 the entire commerce and manufactures of Pittsburgh were summed up 
at $350,000. Of this, $93,000 was created by what was then termed the " Barter- 
ing trade," or the exchanging of one article of merchandise for another. 

In 1808 there were fifty store-keepers or merchants. In 1817 there were 109 
stores of various kinds in the city ; and in 1836 there were 250 stores. 

There is no doubt that Pittsburgh has, in her devotion to manufactures, neg- 
lected her mercantile and commercial opportunities. What those appear to others 
ten or fifteen year since, the following extract from the Chicago Bureau indicates. 

The editor says; "Pittsburgh has always been, by its natural advantages and 
manufactories, a supply point for the west ; which has also been the chief market 
for its production. We believe in a healthy competition as the life of progress and 
trade. Yet, when one visits these vast and varied factories ; notes the natural 
union here of minerals and fuel ; the ponderous combinations of machinery^ 
skilled labor and capital ; with the able and experienced brains at work in the 
management of the same, he is apt to think there can be little chance elsewhere 
for the same enterprise with much show of success. It is certain that there is ^mall 
probability of a discovery at any other point of similar combined advantages for manu-^ 
factures 

" Were we located at Pittsburgh, however, we should counsel her citizens not to continue 
the error they are at present guilty of: namely — a neglect of commercial interests, wMIq. 
securing the supremacy of manufactures. 

The locality of Pittsburgh as a commercial center as well as a manufacturing 
one is equally strong. '• The natural position for trade of that city (Pittsburgh) is 
something wonderful to think q/"," is the terse way in which the writer of the extract 
from the Chicago Bureau, before quoted, expresses an opinion held in even so re- 
markable a city as Chicago. Not only has Pittsburgh the great and growing rail- 
road forces to reach and supply trade, but, as before expressed, those '^ very roads 
have an increasing power in that they are centered into a city of what wiU shortly 
be approaching half a million of population, but there is the great^and reserved 
force of the Ohio river that will again be, as it was before the^railroad era, a 
large factor in her mercantile prosperity. 

Dry Goods Trade. 

The force and bearing of the preliminary remarks, as to the increasing volume 
of the mercantile business, is especially apposite to the wholesale dry goods trade 
of Pittsburgh. There are at present but seven strictly wholesale houses, but the 
magnitude of their sales is large. 

15 



226 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

In looking through such old-time publications as Cramer's Almanack and others 
Ihat at an early date made a specialty of noting and publishing the statistics of 
ihe business of the then town of Pittsburgh, there is nowhere found any note of 
the dry goods or other similar mercantile business. As the writer in the Chicago 
Bureau, previously quoted, says, every effort was made for manufacturing suprema- 
cy, and little or nothing done to build up the mercantile interests. 

In 1808 it is recorded of the manufacture of some articles that are to be classed 
as dry goods. About 58,000 yards were annually woven of linen-woolsey, cotton 
and linen mixed, averaging 56 cents per yard, worth |38,848. Of linen Cramer's 
Almanack says: 

"About 80,000 yards of flaxen linen, coarse and fine, are brought to the Pitts- 
Burgh market yearly." 

The average price appears to have been about 60 cents. 

In 1857, in "Pittsburgh As It Is," the first record is statistically made of the 
dry goods trade of Pittsburgh, but the wholesale and retail houses are all classed 
together, and it is stated that there are twenty-five houses in all, employing 311 
hands, and transacting business to the amount of |2,334,239. In 1876, in "Pitts- 
burgh and Allegheny in the Centennial Year," it is of record that there are ten 
strictly wholesale dry goods houses in the city, who employ 144 hands, and whose 
sales are $4,400,000. In this is included the houses dealing in millinery goods 
and in cloths exclusively. It is also mentioned that there are seventy-six retail 
and wholesale houses, whose sales will average $7,000,000. 

In 1876 it had increased in twenty years, so that the wholesale dry goods trade 
alone was nearly 100 per cent, greater than the wholesale and retail trade in 1856 ; 
and in 1886, only ten years after, the trade again shows an increase of equal pro- 
portions over the trade of 1876, as was shown by the trade of 1876 over that of 
1856. This gain is made under that segregation of the trade into distinct classes, 
'hj which several firms that were in 1876 classed with the dry goods trade are now 
large establishments, dealing in exclusive millinery goods, cloths and similar 
classes of goods, that are by the trade technically designated as dry goods. 

Any genealogical resume of the early firms in the dry goods business cannot be 
attempted, from the impossibility of obtaining the facts of the origination of the 
irms doing business in the early years, or their successors. Among them was 
James Breading & Co., afterwards Breading, Shipton & Hogg (James Breading, John 
Shipton and Jas. B. Hogg, who was lost on the ocean steamer "Atlantic," when she 
foundered off the Newfoundland coast). That firm was succeeded by Breading, 
Arnold & Co. (James Breading, Geo. E. Arnold, afterwards in the banking business, 
under the firm style of Geo. E. Arnold & Co.) This firm was one of the earlier 
wholesale houses established, and it is said it was the active agent in the establish- 
ment of 50 or 60 firms in various lines of business in sections of Western Pennsyl- 
vania and Eastern Ohio. There was also, along from 1830 to 1840, Leavitt & Co., 
in which Thos. M. Howe was a partner. This firm was succeeded by Baird, Leavitt 
& Co., and there were subsequent changes. Michael Tiernan & Co., afterwards 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 227 

Tiernan, Murphy & Co., Waterman, Palmer & Co., McClurg & Dennison, Mason 
<fe McDonough, Gregg & McCandless in 1838. Afterwards McCandless, Jamison 
<& Co., John H. Brown & Co., Smith & Hampton (Geo. P. Smith, Wade Hampton). 
This firm passed through several changes of style and subsequently became Wil- 
son, McElroy & Co., and then McElroy, Dickson & Co., under which style the firm 
leased to exist. In 1843 C. Arbuthnot established a new dry goods house, which 
is now Arbuthnot, Stephenson & Co. (Charles Arbuthnot, John C. Stephenson and 
others). And in 1850 Joseph Home, the firm now Joseph Home & Co. (Joseph 
Home, A. P. Burchfield, C. B. Shea). James B. Haines & Sons, who succeeded 
Hampton, Wilson & Co. in 1852. 

As before stated no complete chronological or genealogical resume can be satis- 
factorily made for the reasons given. It is a sorrowful reflection how soon firms 
and men, who were prominent in their day, pass from the memories of posterity, 
and all that remains of their toils and struggles or success is a dim recollection in 
the uncertain memories of some septigenarian. 

Millinery Goods. 

These were formerly comprised in the general stock of the dry goods jobbing 
houses. There are now three firms whose exclusive trade is millinery goods in 
their strict classification. Some of the most expensive buildings of Pittsburgh 
for commercial purposes are occupied by this class of trade, being built expressly 
to meet the wants of this business. J. D. Bernd, established in 1861, was the first 
of these exclusive millinery houses, and Porter & Donaldson, in 1872, the second. 
These three houses sell a larger value of millinery goods than the twenty-five 
dry good houses did in 1857, and one house more than all the firms dealing in 
millinery goods did in 1876. The cloth houses dealing in cloths and tailor trimmings 
form another segregation from the old style of dry goods houses. Of these there 
are three, who make sales to the amount of about $600,000 a year at the present 
time. There are thus virtually thirteen wholesale dry goods houses now at Pitts- 
burgh, whose average sales amount to $10,000,000 a year, being an increase of 
nearly 150 per cent, in about ten years, and nearly 500 per cent, over the entire 
sales of the wholesale and retail houses combined in 1856, or a period of thirty 
years. If to this is, as was done by the record of 1856, added the sales of the retail 
houses, of which there are several whose transactions are as large as many of the 
wholesale houses, there should be added another $10,000,000 of sales, or an entire 
increase in thirty years of over 1,000 per cent, in that time, and the dry goods 
trade of Pitttsburgh and Allegheny cities may be stated at $20,000,000. 

The Hardware Business 

of Pittsburgh may be considered as beginning with the first handful of settlers 
around Fort Pitt, and certainly with the period when emigration began to make 
Pittsburgh its point of departure for the wilderness beyond. It is, however, not 
likely that there were any distinctive hardware stores, but such articles as were 



228 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

dealt in found their place among the assortments of the general store at that period. 
In an early adoption of the policy that the Chicago Bureau^ before quoted, in air 
article some twenty years ago on Pittsburgh's advantages, pronounced as an error 
that, " they are at present guilty, namely, of a neglect of commercial interests^, 
while securing a supremacy of manufactures." The early publications, from the days- 
of Cramer^ s Almanack, make no mention of commercial interests. Such exhibits 
of the business of the town as were made are only of its growing manufactures, so 
that with the hardware business, as with other mercantile branches, nothing can 
be gleaned that will show its growth. With the increase of the settlement fron* 
village to town, and from town to city, the natural commercial developments into 
branches from a general store evolved, and distinctive hardware firms were estab- 
lished. Two of the wholesale firms of 1888 reaching in their origination and 
geneology back nearly to the twenties, Wolfe, Lane & Co., being the successors of 
Witmore & Wolfe, established in 1836, (Michael Witmore, C. H.Wolfe,) and that of 
Logan & Gregg, established by Logan & Kennedy in 1831. Among the earlier 
firms was also that of S. Fahnestock & Co., established in 1829, whose warerooms 
were at the corner of Diamond alley and Wood street, and was a noted resort of 
evenings for local politicians, the " wire pullers " of those days. Half a century 
ago, the counting house of evenings was a sort of a club resort where the " Quid 
Nuncs" of the times discussed the afiairsof the State and formed their little polit 
ical schemes. 

The two houses noted as dating back to nearly the close of the century justify 
from their age a brief historical mention. 

Logan & Kennedy were established, as before stated, in 1831. In 1848 it was 
succeeded by Logan, Wilson & Co. (John T. Logan, Kobt. T. Kennedy, Philip 
Wilson, Edward Gregg). In 1857 that firm was succeeded by Logan & Gregg 
(John T. Logan, Edward Gregg). In 1867 that firm was succeeded by Logan, 
Gregg & Co. (Edward Gregg, Geo. B. Logan, a son of John T. Logan, Thos. Park)^ 
the existing partners. 

John T. Logan died in 1872, Kobt. T. Kennedy in 1873, and Philip Wilson in 
1877. 

John T. Logan, one of the founders of the firm, began his apprenticeship in 
the hardware business with Geo. Mayer, of Lancaster, Pa., at the age of 12 years. 
In 1819, having finished his term of service, he went to Philadelphia in that 
year with a new suit and a few dollars in his pocket. While there he was 
invited by a Mr. Hoag to come to Pittsburgh and assist him in the hardware busi- 
ness, and he arrived in the city in the fall of 1829. The next year Eobt. T. 
Kennedy, having completed his term of service with a Mr. Kirkpatrick in the 
dry goods business, came to Pittsburgh. Shortly after he and Mr. Logan pro- 
posed to Mr. Hoag to become partners with him. That gentleman declining, Mr. 
Kennedy went back to Lancaster, and his father agreed to give him $3,000 and 
loan a similar sum to Mr. Logan. The two young men, then about 22 years of 
age, then organized the firm of Logan & Kennedy at the date before mentioned, 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 229 

and began business at 68 Wood street. The salesrooms were subsequently removed 
-to 87 Wood street, and afterwards to No. 127, and in 1851 to No. 52, now 306 and 
308 Wood street, where it is still located. 

The firm of Whitmore & Wolfe was, as before mentioned, established in 1836, 
by Michael Whitmore and Christian H. Wolfe, and began business at the corner 
of Liberty and St. Clair, now Sixth street. The firm subsequently became Whit- 
more, Wolfe, Duff & Co., (M. Whitmore, C. H. Wolfe, Geo. Duff, H. Jones,) when 
the salesrooms were removed to No. 50 Wood street, now 314, carrying on the 
Liberty street house until 1841, when they sold that part of the business to Wolfe 
■& Lane, (B. Wolfe, Jr., Thos. H. Lane,) subsequently the firm style became Whit- 
more, W^olfe, Lane & Co., (M. Whitmore, C. H. Wolfe, Thos. H. Lane, Chas. T. 
Neale,) afterward the firm became Wolfe, Lane & Co., the present style of the 
•firm, (Thos. H. Lane, John D. Cherry, Geo. M. T. Taylor, Horace G. Darsie.) 

Christain H. W^olfe died February 28th, 1887. Michael Whitmore having 
died some years previous. Mr. Wolfe was really the founder of the business, and 
in the latter years of his life resided mostly in Philadelphia. He was a great 
lover of art and had accumulated a fine gallery of paintings. He spent many of 
the last years of his life in gratifying this taste and in associating with the artists, 
and quietly assisted struggling young artists by purchasing their pictures. He is 
•said to have been a fine connoiseur in art. 

Of the amount of the sales at the time cited there are no statistics; but in 
1856 there were eight wholesale firms in Pittsburgh, whose sales are given 
;as amounting to $615,000. In 1886 there were but six strictly hardware firms 
'^dealing in what is termed shelf goods, cutlery, and similar merchandise, but their 
rsales are stated at that date as amounting to $1,800,000, or an increase in the thirty 
years of 300 per cent., with a decrease in firms of 25 per cent. This exhibit of 
what is technically termed the hardware trade, does not really comprise its bulk. 
In the segregation into special branches which occurs in all mercantile houses, 
with the increasing commerce of a community, the hardware business of the city 
has thus become divided. This mention of that class of the commercial interest 
is only of that of those dealing in what is understood as hardware and cutlery 
.goods. Among those segregation from the hardware business are the scale houses. 
The making of scales was at one time a branch of the manufactures of Pittsburgh, 
•having been established in 1833 by L. R. Livingston, in what was called the Nov- 
elty Works, but the making of scales is no longer a branch of Allegheny county's 
industries, and those sold by the firms who carry on that distinct branch of the 
hardware business are made elsewhere, and the aggregate of their sales should be 
;added to the amount of that of hardware. 

Drugs. 

The selling of drugs in Allegheny county is, as with hardware, a business that 
vgoes back to the backwoods days, nor of it is there any record, until 1815 
'when four firms are mentioned in a directory of that year. Among whom are 
Avery & Vanzandt the Charles Avery previously mentioned in connection with 



230 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

his philanthropy and in the account of copper, as one of the pioneers in that 
branch of Pittsburgh's industries. In 1837, there were seventeen druggists, of 
whom eight were wholesale firms. Among those are B. A. Fahnestock & Co., 
established in 1829 by B. A. Fahnestock, whose direct successors is the firm of Geo. 
A. Kelly & Co., who in 1872 succeeded, through the firms of Fahnestock, Haslett 
& Schwartz, also, Holmes & Kidd whose successors became J. Kidd & Co., Kidd & 
Fleming (Jonathan Kidd, John Fleming) and then Fleming & Bros. (.John Flem- 
ing, Cochran Fleming) which is the present style of the firm, although the firm 
sell now exclusively their own proprietary medicines. In relation to the habits^ 
of the drug business at that time the following extracts is the best illustration of 
of the drug business at that time and might in some respects be used for other com- 
mercial interest are made from an after dinner speech by L. H Harris, of the L. 
H. Harris Drug Co., at the first annual banquet of the Pittsburgh Oil, Paint and 
Drug Association December 10th, 1887. 

"These were the 'good old times,' fifty years ago, when although the volume of 
business was small the profits were large. The commercial traveller was unknown. 
The head of the house was known personally to every customer and to all those from 
whom he bought goods. Purchases were generally made in person and a reason- 
able time was allowed for the filling of orders. An ordinary bill of goods was not 
expected to leave the house inside of two or three weeks. Although there was a 
general rush of business on each rise in the river, and for the spring and fall trades,^ 
the rush was on orders left weeks and sometimes months previous. I have heard 
of but one complaint of delay and that was from an Ohio customer, who after wait- 
ing some two months asked to know the cause, and afterwards apologized for being 
so impatient and explained that he feared it was because his previous bill was due 
and unpaid. Goods were sold in quantities convenient to handle, which were put 
up in advance and ready for shipment. What are called ' Grocers' Drugs ' were 
always put up in kegs or boxes of twenty-five, fifty and a hundred pounds each and 
rarely sold in smaller quantities. Instead of sending for a quarter dozen of Sooth- 
ing Syrup and a sixth dozen Castoria, as now, the old time orders called for one 
gross Godfreys Cordial, and six dozen each of the three sizes of Castor Oil which 
were always ready put up and at hand. These 'good old times' continued for many 
years — within the recollection of us all. 

" The working hours were from six or seven in the morning until nine or ten at 
night and in the busy seasons much longer. Employees were expected to be at 
work all the time. There were not so many daily papers to read, no cigarettes to 
be smoked and no base ball games to discuss ; but the inevitable Castor Oil, God- 
frey's Cordial, Bateman's Drops, Essence Peppermint and the like were always at 
hand to beguile what might otherwise have been a leisure hour, and not only the 
errand boys and apprentices, but the warehousemen, clerks, salesmen and assistant 
book-keepers were expected to join in this pleasing pastime when not otherwise 
engaged. ^ "^ * ^ 

"All goods were bought and sold on six months' credit, with an allowance of 
5 per cent, discount for cash. Settlements were insisted on in all cases twice a 
year January 1st and July 1st statements were rendered to every customer, with 
a memorandum of the date of maturity by average, and interest was invariably 
charged on all accounts averaging past due at date of payment. * * -s^ * In 
those days each dealer knew personally the standing of every customer, and but 
little was lost in bad debts. It was a usual practice for customers to drop in the 
store after supper to leave orders or for a friendly chat, and this seemed to involve- 
the necessity for keeping open late in the evening." 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 231 

The statistics of the amount of sales of the drug firms are not of record until 
1856, when there were eleven wholesale druggists and patent medicine dealers. 
It is of record in "Pittsburgh As It Is," published in 1857, that the sales amount- 
ed to 1725,000. In 1876 there were nine distinctive wholesale drug houses, whose 
sales, according to "Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the Cennennial Year," (1876) 
amounted to $1,260,000, employing 104 hands, being an increase on amount of 
sales as above of about 80 per cent, in the twenty years, but a decrease in the 
number of firms of some 20 per cent. 

In 1886 there were five strictly wholesale drug firms and eight firms preparing 
proprietary medicines, and one dealing in druggists sundries, being virtually four- 
teen firms in the business. The segregation, as before mentioned as occurring un- 
der natural business laws, being strongly manifested here. The drug business as 
embraced in this combination is stated in " Pittsburgh's Progress, Industries and 
Eesources" (1886) as making sales from |2,250,000 to 12,500,000, an increase m 
the ten years from 1876 of about 100 per cent., although there was a decrease in 
the number of firms of nearly 50 per cent., and over the figures of 1856 of about 
350 per cent., with a decrease of over 60 per cent, in the number of firms. As 
the statistics of 1856, 1876 and 1886 were all collected by the same person, through 
personal interviews with the various firms, they are probably approximately cor- 
rect, and possibly rather under than over the actual facts, as the author of those 
publications complains of the difficulty of obtaining full statistics. 

In 1888 there are the same number of strictly wholesale drug firms. George 
A. Kelly & Co., the successor of B. A. Fahnestock, of 1829 ; C. A. Henderson, es- 
tablished by Wm. Henderson in 1841 ; W. J. Gilmore & Co., established by John 
Hannen in 1825 ; L. H. Harris Drug Company, established by Harris & Ewing in 
1867, and E. Holden and Fleming & Bros., established by Holmes & Kidd in 1828, 
the oldest proprietary medicine house. Touching this point, Mr. Harris, in his 
remarks, before quoted from, says : 

"There were twelve wholesale druggists here a quarter of a century ago, and 
only yit'e left to-day to tell their story! There are volumes of unwritten history 
in these statistics. Is it not, in a great measure, a long story of largely increased 
labor, vexations, expenses and risks, and a constant decrease in the margin of 
profit? Is it not a fact to-day that the wholesale druggist who can cover all the 
expenses of doing business by the profit on his regular sales doe^ all he dare hope 
for, and that his profits are the result of favorable speculation in goods that fluctu- 
ate in value?" 

And Mr. Harris also states the following touching changes in character of 

goods : 

"In glancing over our price lists year after year, although changes are made 
daily, I have been surprised that a list of thirty years ago, or at an interval af 
ten "years (except during the years of the war or immediately succeeding), will 
average about the same to-day in the total footings of the entire list. The size of 
the list has, however, sleadily advanced in growth. New remedies, new chemicals, 
and, most of all, proprietary go'^ds seem to come on the market with undue rai»- 
idity, and, unfortunately, sometimes come to stay — on our shelves. 



232 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

" Taking a price list of 1855 I find but 144 items on the list of proprietaries, 
and this included the essences, paregoric, laudanum, Bateman's drops, and other 
goods put up on the premises. In 1860 the same list had increased to 230; in 
1877 to 550, and to-day upwards of twelve hundred items will not cover the list of 
those in general demand in this market; and this does not include the pills, fluid 
extracts, elixirs and plasters of various kinds that would require a separate vol- 
ume to enumerate." 

The Wholesale Grocery Trade 

of Pittsburgh is to day a large and growing one, and is the largest of the mercan- 
tile interests of the city. The upward movements going on in other branches of 
the wholesale trade of the city is decidedly perceptible in this. 

For some time after the opening of railroad communication with the East this 
branch of the city's trade was to some extent injured, but a reaction once begun a 
steady growth of the grocery trade has followed. Groceries are of so staple a 
character and without fashion that where they are purchased is of no consideration, 
and likewise as they are handled at such small per cents, of profit it is those 
small percentages that decide purchasers. In this respect there are advantages at 
Pittsburgh in many articles that are among the standards of the trade. Sugars, 
for instance, are sold at as near cost as can be arrived at. New Orleans molasses, 
from the advantage of river carriage and cheap freights, is also a feature of the 
market, and also tobaccos. The standing of the grocery trade of Pittsburgh is so 
high that the firms have at all times the opportunities of the best options on all 
goods they wish to purchase, and buying generally for cash, and being thus rated, 
have at all times the ofiTer of any bargains in the market. This high standing is 
well deserved, for it is a noteworthy fact that there has been but one failure in the 
wholesale grocery trade of Pittsburgh in a quarter of a century, and that was rather 
a liquidation than a bankruptcy. This is a show of solidity, financial strength and 
business ability that is hardly equalled in any other city. The grocery trade of the 
city has always had the tradition of being close buyers, cash men, which is well 
sustained, and of being as liberal sellers. Buying close, most always as before 
stated for cash, they are subsequently able to sell as close, and from their own fin- 
ancial strength sustain their customers and extend to them as liberal terms as the 
customs of the trade justify or their needs require. In the preliminary chapter of 
this volume the pioneer character of many of the industries of the city are men- 
tioned, and in the grocery trade this feature also obtains. It was at Pittsburgh that 
the feature of roasted cofi^ee, now so leading an article in all grocery stock, was 
first introduced, and eventuated in Pittsburgh becoming the heaviest roast cofiee 
market in the country and the growth at Pittsburgh of the largest cofiee house in 
the world. As previously mentioned, " roast cofiees " are a distinctive department 
of the wholesale grocery trade of Pittsburgh. There are in the city six cofiee 
roasting houses. 

The first attempt to introduce roast coffee in the stock of grocery houses was at 
Pittsburgh, by the old Hope Spice Mills proprietors, Baxter & McKee, who had a 
small establishment for grinding spices on Third avenue near Wood street. They 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 233 

began roasting a few bags to sell, in connection with their spices, to the retail trade 
of the city as a novelty, about 1840-2. Previous to that the roasting of coffee was 
one of the items of work in each household. To-day it is most probable that in 
households there is no coffee roasting, except from an occasional " whim." John 
Arbackle, of Arbuckle & Co., was the first to see to what extent this field in the 
<X)ffee trade of the United States could be cultivated, while the house of Dil- 
worth Bros, are an energetic second in the race. 

There are also in Pittsburgh six distinctive tea houses, making 26 strictly 
wholesale grocery, tea, and roast coffee houses, the latter being carried on by the 
same firms that are in the general grocery business. In 1856 there were 31 whole- 
sale grocery houses in Pittsburgh, although there were some that did a mixed 
business of groceries, liquors and produce. The sale of those firms amounted to 
something over $7,500,000. In 1876 there were 21 firms transacting a strictly 
wholesale grocery business, with sales to an average of $12,250,000 a year, employ- 
ing 250 hands, being an increase in sales of 80 per cent., with a decrease of nearly 
one third in number of firms. In 1886 there were 26 firms, employing about 500 
hands, whose sales were over $22,500,000 being an increase of about ninety per 
cent, in ten years, and over the sales of 1856, in thirty years, of 200 per cent. 

The Produce Trade 

is, while one in its general acceptation, divided into three classes, the grain and 
hay dealers, the general produce commission firms, and the wholesale flour houses. 
Touching the first division of this trade it is said in " Pittsburgh's Progress, In- 
dustries and Resources" (1886) : 

" Whatever may have been said in previous pages of the difficulty of obtaining 
absolute statistics of any department of the trade of Pittsburgh may be repeated of 
the produce business. This is especially the case with the grain trade, and what 
figures are here given are but indicative of what the business is, not an exhibit of 
its real proportions, which is something ' no man can find out.' Even the ' Pro- 
duce Exchange' of the city confesses itself beat on this point from the willful neg- 
lect or indifference of its own members. In presenting other matters in this vol- 
ume touching the resources of Pittsburgh this failure of application of the power 
of the fullest possible exhibit of business transacted as a magnet to attract capital, 
enterprise and trade, has been lamented. Business is like a snowball, gathering 
as it grows, and still gathering greater bulk as it increases in size. It needs no 
great business acumen to understand that there is no inducement for produce to go 
to a small market or a sluggish one, but that to one of a reverse character the 
natural flow of trade is. That Pittsburgh is neither a small market or a sluggish 
one there are many facts to show, but that it is statistically a secretive one is also 
true. Whether this comes from certain inbred characteristics that obtained in 
the early days of Pittsburgh's settlement and growth, or from an absence of public 
spirit that fosters a trade selfishness which is as a stupefying vapor to commercial 
progress, cannot be said, most probably a mixture of both. 

There is no doubt that if the full statistics of the produce business of Pittsburgh 
could be presented as thoroughly as those of some other cities that the showing of 
its magnitude would not only be a surprise, but create thereby fresh accretions of 
capital and material for transactions. Be that as it may, the bulk of the produce 
business of the city of Pittsburgh, notwithstanding the adverse influence comment- 



234 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

ed on, has been for the past several years steadily on the increase, though it is far 
from what the position of the city should command. There is no better point for 
the holding of grain for the advantages of the eastern and foreign markets. The 
western rivers and railways afford admirable facilities for the concentration of 
grain or other produce at this point." 

From the governing reason that called out the above quoted remarks, and 
which appears from previous publications to be a constitutional characteristic of 
this branch of trade, there are no statistics by which the status of the trade at 
various dates can be prepared. There were, however, eighteen firms transacting a 
wholesale hay and grain business in 1836, also six wholesale flour houses and four 
flour mills. There were also twenty-seven general produce commission firms, and 
one exclusive cheese house, selling 3,500,000 pounds of cheese yearly. The general 
commission houses, in 1886, made sales to the amount of $4,000,000. As observed 
in the quotation, just what amount of business these twenty-eight firms transact 
cannot be obtained, nor, therefore, can any complete statistics of this branch of the 
business be compiled. However, a report of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Com- 
merce, for 1882, gives the transactions of the flour and grain dealers for that year 
at $4,891,630, and the produce business at $2,000,000. A report of the same body 
for 1884, give the transactions of the flour and grain dealers and flour mills at 
$7,970,000, or an increase in two years of nearly fifty per cent. The figures ob- 
tained for the produce trade in 1886, as compared with those of the report of the 
Chamber of Commerce of 1882, shows an increase in the four years of 100 per 
cent. An authority before quoted says: 

" Although such figures as could be obtained were so incomplete for the year 
of 1885 of the flour and grain trade, yet sufficient Avas gotten to indicate that the 
progress shown from 1882 to 1884 was continued from 1884 to 1886, and the busi- 
ness most probably sums up to $10,000,000." 

If to this, assuming that it is approximately reliable, is added the statistics of 
the produce commission firms, it may be assumed that the entire sales of this 
branch of the mercantile interest of Pittsburgh will amount to some where in the 
neighborhood of from $14,000,000 to $15,000,000. It is a great mistake that those 
interested in these branches of the city's trade "hide their candle under a bushel," 
and prevent the great proportions of its produce business from being seen, and 
thus secure to the city the advantages that Avould 'arise from the reputation of its 
being an important produce center. The 

Wholesale Boot and Shoe Business 

is carried on by nine firms, one of which dates back to 1817. The sale of these 
firms average about $3,000,000 a year. In 1857 the sales of the seven firms which 
in that year carried on that branch of business, are given at $456,000, which is 
quite probable is below the actual figures. In 1876 the same firms made sales to 
the amount of $1,600,000, or 300 per cent, increase; and in 1886 the sales were 
compiled at over $3,000,000, being an advance on the great increase of 1876 from 
1856 of about 50 per cent., and over 600 per cent, on the sales of thirty years pre- 



MEBCAJSTILE IJsTEMESTS. 235^ 

vious. This is indicative of the increase of the wholesale business of the city, and 
corresponds with that in other branches, and indicates an advance along the entire- 
line of mercantile interests. 

In 1887 a corporation, entitled the Pittsburgh Shoe Company, was organized,, 
and began making boys' and men's fine and medium grade of shoes. Their factory 
is of three stories, about 120x60 feet, with an L. The president is Gabriel Mayer; 
secretary, J. F. Grimes ; treasurer, Philip Wagner. Their present capacity is 300 
pairs of shoes a day, and they employ seventy hands. The outlook is for a suc- 
cessful establishment of this addition to Allegheny county's industries, as they 
have now more orders for shoes than they can fill. Why shoe manufacturing 
should not become an industry of larger proportions here is a question. Pitts- 
burgh is not only a large market for leathers, but that from the tanneries of 
Allegheny county is, in many kinds, the standard of the markets all over the 
country. Pittsburgh is, geographically, a central point for distribution, and it is 
possible that in the "may-be's" of the future New England may find a rival in 
Allegheny county, as it has in other manufactures. 

There are four hat houses who are exclusively wholesalers of this class of goods 
viz. : McCord & Co., 509 Wood st., established 1798 by Eobert Peebles, which is. 
the oldest house west of the mountains in this line of business, having been estab- 
lished when there were but 1,395 inhabitants in the then village of Pittsburghr 
and is probably the establishment mentioned in "A View of the Trade of the City 
in 1803" as selling 2,800 fur and wool hats at |5 each, and ninety dozen chip hats> 
at 17.50 per dozen. There is also W. J. Moreland, 406 Wood street, established 
in 1839 by E. H. Palmer ; Oppenheimer & Kaufman, 705 Liberty street ; J. L. 
Cooper & Co., 636 Liberty street. These four firms transact a business of between 
1450,000 and $500,000 annually, employing about thirty-five hands. 

Pittsburgh is the recognized head of the market of the United States for cer- 
tain kinds of leather, among which that which is technically known as harness- 
leather, of which that of Pittsburgh make is the market standard. It was natural 
that in view of the oak and hemlock forests of Western Pennsylvania that this 
industry should early take root at Pittsburgh. 

Of the first tanneries established at this point there is no authentic informations 
but in 1808 there were, according to "Cramer's Almanac," which gives at that, 
date a statement of the '' master workmen " in the town, seven tanners. In 1812, 
according to the same publication, there were in the town six tanneries.* In 1817, 
in a report made by order of the Town Council, there were seven. In 1857 there 
were, as given in " Pittsburgh As It Is," thirteen tanneries having 477 vats, em- 
ploying 132 hands. In 1876 there were fourteen tanneries employing 166 hands,,, 
who tanned 70,000 hides, besides calf and sheep skins, and the value of their pro- 
duct is stated at $850,080. One of those earlier tanneries established in 1790 hy 
William Hays is virtually continued in existence at the present date. 

In 1888 there were twenty tanneries. These twenty tanneries occupy an area 
of thirty acres and employ about 750 hands. The value of the plants is estimated 



^36 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

-at $750,000 and the value of the output as near as figures can be had is $3,500,000. 
Outside of the tanneries, mention of which is made in another chapter, there 
are four strictly wholesale dealers in leather and hides. These four firms value 
their business transactions at $500,000 to $600,000. 

This would make the leather business of the city something over $4,000,000. 

The Carpet Business 

At Pittsburgh, as a distinctive mercantile business, dates back to about fifty years 
-since. In 1834 Samuel Thompson, who, in 1807, with his brother John, carried 
on a cloth and tailoring store one door from the corner of Market and Water 
streets, began the selling of carpets in connection with dry goods at the corner of 
Fourth and Market streets. In 1837 he relinquished the dry goods business to his 
son Washington, continuing the carpet business on the second floor of 110 Market 
■street. In 1835 he disposed of the carpet business at 110 Market steeet to his son- 
in-law, who, in connection with David Noble, formed the firm of W.McClintock & 
Co., Mr. Thompson organizing the firm of Samuel Thompson & Son (Robert D. 
Thompson), and selling carpets on Wood street near Fifth avenue. This firm 
soon dissolved, and Robert D. Thompson succeeded David Noble in the firm of W. 
McClintock & Co., who opened a new store at 75 Fourth avenue. 

The building was burned in the fire of 1845. When rebuilt the firm again 
•occupied it, but in 1853 removed to 110 Market street again. In 1854 Alexander 
and George L. were admitted to partnership, under the firm style of McClintock 
Bros. 

The firm was dissolved in 1855, W. McClintock continuing the business alone 
qintil 1862, when his son Oliver was admitted to partnership, the firm style being 
McClintock & Son. This firm was dissolved in 1863, and the firm of Oliver Mc- 
Clintock & Co. (Oliver McClintock, W. McClintock, George R. Senior,) was formed 
January 8th, 1863, and purchased the carpet store of Robinson & Co. at what is 
now 33 Fifth avenue, W. McClintock continuing the business at 110 Market street 
until 1864, when he retired from the carpet business. He died July 28th, 1870. 
On January 1st, 1864, Walter L. McClintock was admitted as a partner to the 
firm of Oliver McClintock & Co. On January 1st, 1874, Thompson McClintock 
was admitted a partner in the firm, and on January 1st, 1884, upon the retirement 
•of George R. Senior, Frank L. McClintock became a partner in the firm. 

The four brothers, Oliver, Walter L., Thompson and Frank L., under the style 
•of Oliver McClintock & Co., perpetuate the direct line of business succession from 
1807 of their maternal grandfather and their father; W. McClintock & Co. being 
-among and perhaps the only one of the old firms of the county whose business 
dates back more than fourscore years in direct family succession. 

Other firms dealing in carpets were afterwards established, among whom were 
IV. McCallum & C, about 1850, since closed out; McFarland & Collins, now J. 
W. McFarland, April, 1863 ; Bovard & Rose, Dec, 1866, and E. Groetzinger, in 1885, 
who also commenced in the dry goods business in 1862, and who in the former 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. - 237 

year abandoned the dry goods business to deal exclusively in carpets, combining- 
a large wholesale carpet department with the retail. 

The Furniture Business of Pittsburgh is largely of a retail nature. There 
are some eight firms manufacturing special articles, one firm employing 175 hands,, 
manufacturing all descriptions of furniture, and seven others making special ar- 
ticles. These eight firms employ an aggregate of 300 hands, and manufacture fur- 
niture to the amount of about $550,000 a year. There are some exclusive retail 
establishments who also finish up goods and do some wholesaleing. The whole 
number of firms is about forty, employing some 400 hands, and their sales aggre- 
gate $1,250,000 a year, and the furniture business of the city will approximate 
$1,800,000. In this class of business the selling of carpets has been combined 
with that of furniture, as also in some carpet houses the sale of furniture. Into 
this business has also been introduced the feature of installment sales, which was 
first introduced in Pittsburgh by W. H. Keech, combining carpet, furniture and 
upholstry. The sale of carpets with some descriptions of furniture has also been 
adopted by upholstry firms, so that it is difficult to make any statistical statement 
of the furniture business as a distinct branch of business. 

The Clothing Business 

of Pittsburgh has somewhat changed its character since the days when the mak- 
ing of "buckskin breeches" to the value of $500 were of sufficient importance to 
be one of the items in an exposition of the manufactures of the time — in 1803 — 
and the making of "linsey woolsey" was an important item. The "buckskin 
breeches" and the "linsey woolsey" disappeared before the advent of "store 
clothes," and although there were no visions then of the immense ready-made 
clothing houses of the present day, there were undoubtedly "custom tailors" from 
whose small shops the working man and the fashionable gentleman of the day 
were fitted out in the latest fashion with broadcloth, cassimere and cassinet 
adornments. The "ready-made" clothing stores came later, in the gradual growth 
of population. It was about 1838-40 that the "Three Big Doors," as it was 
called, of John McClosky's ready-made clothing establishment was projected and 
opened — the prototype of Gusky's immense bazaar of to-day. Although but a 
little 24x60 feet building, it was for several years a notoriety of the city, and its 
piles of ready-made coats, vests and pantaloons were a wonder. It was a favorite 
dealing place for the raftsmen from up the Allegheny, the coal miners and farm- 
ers from the country round. Others soon followed in McClosky's wake, and ready- 
made clothing houses began to abound. These found rivals that began to spring 
up in other towns and villages, and the establishment of wholesale houses for 
ready-made clothing became a promising field for business investments. In about 
1847-50 this branch of Pittsburgh's mercantile industries began to develop, be- 
ing at first in combination with the retail houses. In 1850 Klee & Kaufmann 
entered the field as an exclusive wholesale firm. In 1865 this firm was succeeded 
by J. Klee & Bro., and they by J. Klee & Co. in 1880, the style of the firm still 
bein7 J. Klee & Co. 



1'38 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

In 1857 H. & M. Oppenheimer established the second wholesale house, who 
^vere succeeded by M. Oppenheimer, under which style the business is still carried 
on. The two firms existing in 1857 sold |600,000. In 1876 there were three 
wholesale clothing firms, whose business was about $650,000, being an increase of 
one firm and a small per cent, increase on the business of twenty years previous, 
which was probably incorrectly returned, and is also to some extent accounted for 
by the reaction in prices after the war and competition from the growth in firms 
in similar business in the East. 

In 1888 there were four firms, and the amount of sales as given was about 
^700,000. Between 1860 and 1870 there were several firms who embarked in the 
business, among whom were Hampton, Campbell & Co., who relinquished the dry 
goods business for that purpose ; E. Frowenfield & Bro., and Morgenstern & Bro., 
the latter two subsequently removing from the city. 

The growth of the retail business in this line has grown to be immense, several 
of the firms engaged in it having almost palatial sales rooms, one of them — 
Gusky's — occupying the front of an entire block. It is said that Pittsburgh is the 
largest market for clothing in the country. Statistics would show this, but cannot 
be obtained. This business, as in others, has become divided into classes, there 
being houses exclusively making pantaloons, and others special garments. There 
are also some two or three firms dealing exclusively in ready-made ladies' clothing. 

There are also three firms dealing in men's furnishing goods whose sales average 
$350,000 a year, and four wholesale firms in what is known to the trade as "no- 
tions" doing a business of from $150,000 to $175,000. There are six wholesale 
queensware firms whose sales will run about 200,000 to 225,000 a year. One firm 
in wooden and willow ware making sales to the amount of $200,000. Two who 
deal in cordage, with sales to the amount of $200,000 annually. Six firms dealing 
in agricultural machinery, whose sales will average $600,000 yearly. Four firms 
selling rubber goods and leather belting with sales to the amount of quite $400,- 
000. There are six firms dealing in machinery whose sales are over or about 
$600,000. Two firms dealing in tin, spelter and similar metals and tinners' ma- 
terial with sales to a value of $600,000 yearly. Four firms selling saddlery and 
carriage hardware to amount of $600,000 yearly. Seven wholesale dealers in 
sewer pipe, terra cotta ware and cement selling about $600,000 annually. 

The tobacco business of Allegheny county is a large one. There are 250 cigar 
factories, in which there are employed 750 hands, which make returns in the 23d 
and 24th districts of the Internal Revenue, of $1,250,000. Several of the whole- 
sale grocery houses have cigar factories of their own. One firm having a factory 
in another district and making 10,000,000 cigars yearly. The making of cigars is 
more largely carried on than any other branch of the tobacco business, with per- 
haps the making of cut and dry and snuff by Weyman & Bro. whose factory was 
established in 1823 by George Weyman. There are seven firms engaged in the 
wholesaling of tobacco leaf, selling one year with another about 3,000,000 pounds. 
There are also twenty-one wholesale firms selling tobacco and cigars. One firm 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 239 

Heymer & Bro. giving especial attention to the importation of the finer grades. 
Exact statistics of the monetary value of the tobacco trade, like those of many 
others, could not be obtained, but from those collated the tobacco trade of Pittsburgh 
may be estimated at $1,500,000 or over. 

The wholesale liquor business amounts to $2,800,000 yearly, there being eigh- 
teen firms engaged in it, and there are in addition some thirty other firms who 
combine retail with wholesale, with about $1,200,000 more of sales. 

There are eight wholesale firms dealing in paper, the value of whose business 
is annually about $1,200,000. 

There are five strictly wholesale jewelry firms. Of these Heeren Bros. & Co. 
have a large factory for manufacturing, and is the only house who carry watch- 
makers and jewelers supplies. These five firms sell goods annually to the value of 
$1,000,000. 

The Pork Packing business is also an important one, there being six firms 
engaged in it. In 1856 there were seven firms transacting a business of $650,000. 
In 1875 there were eight, whose business was short of $2,500,000, being, however, 
an increase of 400 per cent, in twenty years. In 1886 there were but six firms, 
being a decrease in firms of 25 per cent., but their business was stated at about 
$3,000,000. This latter amount may be something less but is believed to be nearly 
correct. 

The foregoing is a summary of the wholesale mercantile interests, as embraced 
in their leading classes, — several of which run into minor ramifications that are 
not itemized, to mention which in detail would be to render this chapter prolix 
The gross value of what may be considered as the mercantile interest, thereby 
meaning the business of the firms noted in the foregoing paragraphs, and their 
co-relative branches, may be estimated as from $70,000,000 to $75,000,000 yearly. 
The statistics that have been given in a number of instances show that the city is 
fast growing in importance as a commercial center. There is no reason why it 
should not, it has all the advantages of geographical position, and great transpor- 
tation facilities to render that available. 

The Cracker Baking is an important branch of manufacturing business of the 
city that is perhaps more properly classed among the manufacturing interests than 
mercantile. The first bakery in Pittsburgh was established in 1786 by Hugh 
Gardner and John Cowan, who, on December the 2d of that year, advertised in 

the Gazette : 

" As they mean to have biscuit ready baked and packed in barrels or kegs, or 
loose for smaller demands, therefore, will be able to supply expeditiously those on 
a passage down the Ohio river to Kentucky or elsewhere, and surveyors or others 
going to uninhabited parts." 

There are no further special mention, but in 1808, in the list of " master work- 
men " published in that year there are six bakers mentioned. In the report of 
1817 by a committee of Councils of manufactures, there is no mention made of 
any of these cracker or other bakeries, although it cannot be supposed that the 
business was not carried on. In 1856, Pittsburgh As It Is mentions E. & J. 



240 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Davis having a cracker bakery at 91 Liberty st., who were the successors of John 
Davis who established the business in 1831. Of this establishment S. S. Marvin 
& Co. were successors in 1866. In 1856 there were six factories producing crackers 
to the amount of |114,000. In 1876 there were four cracker manufactories whose 
sales averaged about $500,000. In 1886 there were five establishments, employing 
380 hands, and the incomplete statistics shows an output of over $700,000. In 1888- 
Pittsburgh has the largest cracker bakery in the United States, (S. S, Marvin & 
Co.,) and five others, the value of whose output will exceed $1,000,000. 

The Lumber Trade 

of Pittsburgh is one that is largely supported by local demand. In 1807 there 
were four lumber yards at Pittsburgh. In 1812 the quantity of lumber brought 
down the Allegheny was 7,000,000 feet, worth about $70,000. In 1831 the amount 
of lumber brought down the Allegheny was of a value of $300,000. 

The increased demand consequent upon the rapid progress of the population 
of the Ohio Valley and the manufactuies of Pittsburgh rapidly swelled the 
amount of lumber annually cut on the Allegheny and its tributaries, until the 
amount of lumber run from that section and sawed upon their banks increased. 
About one-half of the entire "cut" of the mills was consumed at Pittsburgh; the 
remaining half was taken to ports below and sold. 

Of late years the supply from that section has not increased, but the amount 
used in the city and manufactures has largely increased. The supply is augment- 
ed by receipts from the western counties of Pennsylvania, through which runs the 
Pennsylvania Kailroad, also from the lakes. 

The lumber trade strictly is that of the dealers in lumber as brought to the 
city in railroad cars, and so sold or disposed of in the wholesale lumber yards T 
also that used and sold in the saw-mill and planingmill products and in the 
cooperages. The consumption of timber or wood as used in the furniture manu- 
factories, the carriage and wagon factories, etc., are embraced in the mention of 
those industries. It has been diflBcult to classify the dealers in the various 
branches of this business. There are four wholesale dealers by car lots, who 
handle about 55,000,000 feet of pine and hard woods a year. There are twenty- 
one firms who sell from yards about 70,000,000 feet, of a value of $1,500,000, and 
two firms selling 6,000,000 staves. There are also twenty -three planing-mills, who 
use 40,000,000 feet of pine lumber, producing sash and doors, flooring and boxes,, 
worth about $800,000. There are thirty cooperages in the city, the product being 
about 700,000 barrels, besides large quantities of nail and white lead kegs. It is^ 
estimated that the entire receipts of lumber is 150,000,000 feet, and the total 
value of the lumber trade rising at $4,000,000. 



PACK HORSE TO BAIL ROADS. 241 

CHAPTER XVII. 
From Pack Horse to Rail Roads. 

A panoramic painting of the growth of transportation facilities from the date 
at which the county of Allegheny was organized would be one illustrative of the 
whole progress of civilization on the western continent. Its story to be told in all 
its fullness of incident, anecdote and biography would make in itself a volume. 
It would be an allegory of the Ohio river, around whose headwaters Allegheny 
county stands, finding its beginnings in the mountain streams and rivers, growing 
stronger and broader as its feeding creeks and forming rivers unite, until it sweeps 
on the great current which has been so large a factor in tlie development of the 
West and in the growth of Allegheny county. 

The full history in the growth of transportation facilities, as they are integral 
factors in the growth of Allegheny county, would, if narrated in aU the detail of 
personal biography, public action, financial negotiations, mechanical achievements 
and engineering skill, make chapters instead of pages, into which it must in this 
volume be condensed. As thought reaches back into the years of more than a 
century ago, it contemplates the solitary trapper bearing his little pack of peltry 
to the settlements to exchange for his few needed supplies, following the course 
of the mountain streams, of the valleys and gorges, along which now rush and 
roar the locomotive and its lengthy train of cars, or, returning again to the wilder- 
ness, with heavier burdens, if perchance more compact, seeking easier paths. 
They were the explorers of the most valuable routes and easiest grades for path- 
ways between the east and the west. In their footsteps followed the heavier 
ladened pack horse, and along the same route the emigrant's white-topped wagon, 
and practically the turnpikes and their ponderous "Conestoga wagons," the stage 
coach, and ultimately, in general, the iron ways of railroad transportation. 

The pack horse was the pioneer in transportations for general demands of com- 
merce. Although it may readily be supposed that individuals may have utilized 
"old grey Dobbin," or some other trusty family equine, to carry the scanty house- 
hold equipments in their emigration westward, yet pack horse lines were the first 
regular system of public transportation. 

From them the carrier system of transportation increased and became an im- 
portant element in the commerce between the east and the west. It was no 
uncommon sight, previous to 1790, to see at Mercersburg, in Franklin county, and 
other points in Pennsylvania, and Hagerstown and other towns in West Virginia 
from 50 to 100 pack horses in a row taking on their loads of salt and iron and 
other commodities for the Monongahela country. Each horse carried about 200 
pounds of merchandise, and two men were required to take charge of a file which 
consisted of from ten to fifteen horses, tied " head and tail " as it was called. One 
man taking charge of the lead horse the other keeping an eye on the adjustments 
of the load and urging the speed of any of the horses that showed an indisposition 

16 



242 ALLEGHENY COUNTY yS 

to keep step with the rest. A. H. Reed, in the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette of 
July 29th, 1886, the number commemorative of the centennial of that paper, in a 
sketch of the progress of overland transportation, writes : 

"In 1760, Carlisle was the most advanced post of the State. Loading their 
pack horses with blankets, whisky and powder, the Indian traders climbed the 
gloomy Alleghenies to the little known region beyond. It was no easy thing to 
make progress along the narrow trails. Newly-fallen trees continually blocked 
the way, and the boughs of the overshadowing forest eternally switched the trav- 
eler in the face. By 1770 the footpaths had become broader, smoother, and harder. 
The click of the iron-shod pack horse had grown familiar to the wilderness. The 
forest in places had shrunk back from the bridle-path, and a cabin nestled in an 
occasional clearing. Other paths were cut out. The tide of western immigration 
set in. Long trains of pack horses loaded with stores and agricultural implements, 
with furniture and cooking utensils, moved towards the setting sun. The chatter 
and laughter of white children were mingled with the gruff voices of the pack 
traders. In the year 1790 there were only six freight wagons engaged in hauling 
goods to Pittsburgh from over the mountains. Groceries, liquor, salt, iron, etc., all 
entered the town on the backs of horses. Eastern merchandise was hauled by 
wagon as far west as Shippensburg or Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, and as far 
as Winchester, in Virginia, and from there packed the remainder of the journey. 
On the return trip from Pittsburgh the horses were loaded with furs, skins, and 
ginseng. A pack train numbered between ten and twenty-five horses. When two 
trains going opposite ways met in the narrow paths of the mountains there was 
always trouble in passing and accidents were frequent. Up to 1796 all the salt 
used in this region was packed across the mountains." 

The date mentioned by Mr. Heed in the foregoing extract may be assumed as 
about the time when the famous Conestoga wagon came into active operation, as 
the transportation facility of that period. John Hayden, however, of Fayette 
county, in 1789, drove the first wagon load of goods over the southern route as it was 
called. He drove four horses hauling about one ton and was nearly a month 
making the trip to and fro from Hagerstown, Md., a distance of 140 miles, receiv- 
ing $3.00 per hundred for the freight charges from Jacob Bowman, of Brownsville, 
for whom the goods were. From that date until the advent of railroads into Alle- 
gheny county the Conestoga wagon was a factor in commercial transportations and 
a familiar and picturesque feature in roadway landscapes. 

What the '' Mike Finks" were on the western waters the Conestoga wagoners 
were on the mountain roads, a hardy, jovial class of men, muscular and learned in 
horses, and the dangers of steep hill grades and "sidling" mountain roads. There 
were favorite " inns " along the turnpike between Pittsburgh and Chambersburg, 
to reach which they were wont to drive hard and long, for their night's rest. 
They were a "sun up," "sun down" class of toilers, except of moonlight summer 
nights, when they would prolong as far into the evening as was judicious for their 
horses to haul. Those roadside taverns were the scene of many a frolic, and woe 
betide the transient travellers who became involved, at such times, in a dispute 
with a gathering of Conestoga wagoners. Honest and reliable, if at times a little 
given to a frolic, the merchandise in their charge was faithfully delivered, despite 
the temptation of lonely roads, dark nights and convenient precipices to divide 



PACK HORSE TO BAIL ROADS. 243 

■with a confederate. There was not a " haunted hollow " or a scene of Indian war- 
fare along the line of which they had not a tale to tell. While the long pleasant 
summer days had for them its delights among the mountain gorges and in the 
winding roads along the hill tops, the storms of winter brought its dangers and its 
hardships in their heavy snows and icy roads, down whose steep descent it was 
often perilous to drive. The race of wagoners is gone with many another peculi- 
arity of earlier days, and left less trace of their existence, as a class, than even the 
flat-boat men of the Ohio. T. B. Read the poet, and author of Sheridan's Ride, 
lias honored them in a lengthy poem entitled " The Wagoner of the Alleghenies." 
Among their favorite places of rendevous in Allegheny county was the old Eagle 
Hotel on Liberty street, Pittsburgh, at one time kept by John McMasters and 
afterwards by Wm. Lerimer, Jr., where the Seventh Avenue Hotel now stands. 
In the rear of this tavern was a very large yard, in which at times fifty or sixty of 
these immense wagons would be corraled, and the sitting and bar rooms of the tav- 
ern filled with wagoners. There was another tavern on Liberty street at the 
head of Tenth street also much frequented by them. 

While to a considerable extent the number of Conestoga wagons decreased on 
the opening of the canal, they continued in use until the opening of the Pennsyl- 
vania railroad, when, their occupation gone, they disappeared from the turnpike?, 
and their honest rugged drivers vanished from city life, seeking some favorite 
country village homes and employment. There for many years after an occasional 
survivor could be found. A pensioner of some once well patronized roadside inn, 
telling around the fires at nights or on the bench before the door on summer after- 
noons, tales of fearful runaways of six horse teams in winter down the icy moun- 
tain roads, of strange sights seen in the dusk of evenings in haunted spots, and 
isolated taverns, which solitary travelers had entered at night fall to be seen no 
more. 

With the opening of the Pennsylvania canal before whose increased powers of 
transportation the Conestoga wagon gradually passed away, and the third condi- 
tion of transportation facilities arose. 

On March 27th, 1824, an Act was passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania, 
authorizing a board of three commissioners to examine routes for a proposed canal. 
On April 25th, 1824, a further act was passed providing for a board of five com- 
missioners. Wm. Darlington, Robert Patterson, John Sergeant, David Scott, and 
Abner Lacock were appointed by the Governor, to report on the subject. 

The committee reported favorably, and on the 25th of February, 1826, the 
Legislature passed an Act "to provide for the commencement of the canal, to be 
constructed at the expense of the State and to be styled the Pennsylvania Canal." 
This Act authorized the construction of a canal, from the mouth of the Swatara on 
the Susquehanna to a point opposite the mouth of the Juniata, and from Pittsburgh 
up the Allegheny to the Kiskiminitas. On April 9th, 1827, an Act was passed 
authorizing the extension from the Juniata to Lewistown, and from the mouth of 
the Kiskiminitas to Blairsville. 



244 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

An Act of March 28th, 1828, authorized the extension of the canal from Lewrsi» 
town to the highest desirable point of the Juniata to the mouth of the Swatara^. 
and from Blairsville to the highest desirable point of the Conemaugh, and also- 
the construction of a railroad over the Alleghenies. During the summer of 1827^ 
the Allegheny, Pine Creek, Lower Kiskiminitas, and Conemaugh lines were put 
under contract. In 1828, the Upper Kiskiminitas, Conemaugh, and Lower Ligo- 
nier lines were placed in contractor's hands. During 1829-30, the Upper Ligo- 
nier line through Johnstown was contracted for, and in April and August, 1831, the 
Allegheny portage railway and the completion of the railway to Holidaysburg 
was put under contract. 

In May, 1833, the contracts for the stationary engines for the incline planes- 
were contracted for, and in 1834 the whole system from Pittsburgh to Philadel- 
phia was completed and ready for business. 

Of this State enterprise, other than its local history in Allegheny county, these 
pages are not called to make note. It was a great incentive to the commerce of 
Allegheny county and brought into being a new class of business firms, technically 
termed "transporters," men with capital, good executive abilities and untiring en- 
ergy and industry. For the labor involved in the loading and dispatching of the 
boats east and the distribution of the cargoes brought west, or their reshipmenfe 
down the Ohio river required rapid and accurate work. Those were the days 
when draymen were an important class of citizens in Pittsburgh. Hundreds of 
drays were employed in the transportation of merchandise between the river and 
the canal. Many of the draymen owned their owai drays and employed subordi- 
nates while the leading transportation companies had theirs. 

No public procession of the period was complete without its turnout of dray- 
men, mounted on their dray horses, sometimes in white frocks and again with simple 
badges. The canal had been constructed with a tunnel through the city undey 
the eastern slope of Grant's hill, beginning near the corner of Seventh and Grant 
streets, running in a south-westerly course, and passing under the church now at 
the corner of Sixth avenue and Fifth avenue debouchingfon the Monongahela 
river near Try street, part of which is now used by the St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and 
Chicago Railroad in passing through Pittsburgh. Another branch extended 
through Allegheny City along the line of Lacock street, and terminated at the 
Allegheny river near Balkam street. These branches were^intended to facilitate 
the transportation of cargoes to steamboats on the river, but were little used the 
greater proportion being transferred by drays. The chief point of congregation of 
the canal boats was at what was called the " Basin," now the intersection of Penn 
avenue and Eleventh street. Short lateral branches running from it in several di- 
rections to facilitate the boats mooring along side the warehouses of the transpor- 
tation companies, which M^ere immense wooden sheds. The canal crossed the Alle- 
gheny river on an aqueduct. At that time engineering was in its infancy, and 
when Nathan S. Eoberts proposed to carry the water of the canal over the river 
by an aqueduct, with one hundred feet span, it was such a bold and novel proposi- 
tion that the canal board refused to consider it. 



PACK HOUSE TO BAILBOABS. 245 

Verily the world moves. It is now proposed by a Pittsburgh engineer to con- 
struct a bridge across the Hudson, with a span of 3,000 feet, and the bridge build- 
ing establishments of the city have constructed many bridges across rivers with 
from 500 to 1,000 feet spans. However, the acqueduct was built and in its working 
was all it was contemplated it would be, and the basin as it was locally called became 
^ crowded and busy place. There were some famous canal transportation lines 
organized, and men who have since become famous themselves were their origina- 
tors and controllers. Among them was the " Union Line," (Samuel Eea, Henry 
Graff, and others,) " Clark & Thaw's Lines," (Will-am Thaw, Thomas S. Clark,) 
"Kier & Jones' Lines," (Samuel Kier, B. F. Jones,) "The O'Connor Line," (Luke 
Taafe, James O'Connor.) The lines worked by Wm. Bingham & Co., (Wm. Bing- 
ham, who, with his whole family were afterwards lost at sea, the vessel on which 
they sailed having never been heard from after leaving port.) " Leech & Co.'s 
Lines," in which Geo. Black and Henry S. Lloyd, afterwards proprietors of the 
Kensington Rolling Mill, were clerks. Many others of the young men of that 
day who have since become Pittsburgh's most able business men, obtained their 
business training in the canal line offices. There was no idle time about the basin 
in those days except in the winter months, when the water was let out of the 
canal, and lessons of promptness, application and correctness were learned there, 
that bore good fruit in after years. During the years of its existence the Penn- 
sylvania Canal was the great connecting link between the sea board and the 
western rivers. It was open to all who choose to run boats and pay the lockage. 

Each boat or company employed its own men and paid its own tolls, and as 
quick delivery was a recommendation of the line but little time was lost in either 
loading, unloading, or towing the boats. The captain who could make the quick- 
-est trip was most in demand by the companies. Fifteen days was the usual time. 
The freight boats were drawn by three mules which were changed about every 
eight miles, and boats were run or laid up on Sundays as accorded with the owners 
views. Passenger boats were also run making the trip in three days. They were 
drawn by horses, and as there were several lines a race was not unfrequent on the 
long reaches, sometimes of several miles, in the pools were the small streams had 
been taken advantage of by damming. In this gentle excitement, for it was neither 
very dangerous or very rapid sport, the passengers participated, feeing the drivers 
to encite them in their efforts to keep ahead of the rival boat. 

The passenger boats all started from what is now the corner of Penn avenue 
•and Eleventh street, and it was in the summer months a favorite trip. The boats 
were internally arranged somewhat on the principal of the sleeping car of to-day, 
with adjustable berths for sleeping at nights, and through the day the cabin, which 
extended the full length of the boat, became a handsome parlor. The long flat 
deck of the boat made a fine promenade and was the favorite gathering place of 
the passengers in the cool of the morning and of the evening for a smoke, a chat» 
a song, and sometimes a dance. All felt it a courtesy to contribute to the enjoy- 
jment of the whole company. It was a leisurely, pleasant three days' trip, and on 



246 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

moonlight nights with the boat gliding quietly along the still waters, through the 
shadows of the forest and hillside or amid the bright moonlight, that mode of 
travelling had a charm peculiarly its own. It was the custom where the canal 
made a long curve or bend for the helmsman to land the boat and allow the pas- 
sengers to get Oil for a walk across the mountain or hill, round which the canal 
wound, meeting them on the other side. Those were pleasant rambles, and many 
a laughable adventure was had in the scrambles over rocks and through thickets^ 
and acquaintanceships thus made that ripened into companionships that lasted 
through life. The leisurely progress of a canal boat would not suit the impatient 
fret of the travelers of to-day, who cannot wait until the railway car stops at the 
station before they begin to get off, no matter how persistenly the courteous con- 
ductor repeats, " Passengers will please remain seated until the train stops." 

There are, however, no doubt, many in Allegheny county who recall the pleas- 
ant days on the old Pennsylvania Canal would like to enjoy a three day canal trip 
once more. The captains of these boats were gentlemen in manner, and their own 
crews well behaved and courteous, but the crews of the freight boats were often 
cast in a rougher mold. Writing of this A. H. Keed, from whom an extract has- 
previously been made, says, mentioning peculiar names of canal boats : 

" The names were sometimes very amusing. Pat Collins once ran a boat on? 
the Middle division that he called the Lightning Fanny. The Fanny part was. 
the name of his girl. The Lightning part was hitched on because he once made 
a trip with his boat that beat the record. Collins didn't marry Fanny, though, but 
hitched himself for life to a soap-maker's widow. Then he changed the name of 
his boat to the Gliding Jane, after the widow. The cooks were the ornaments of 
the canal boats. They were usually big, fat, good natured Irish women. One of 
the boats used to have printed on its stern : * Beauty and the Beast, Beauty missed 
the boat, but the cook's aboard.' Another boat, called the Spirit of the Spray, wa& 
marked with the legend : ' Four precious souls and one cook aboard.' 

" The Bard of Erin was another boat that had a whack at the cook. The 
canallers always roared when they read just below the Bard's name the following :: 
* Capacity of boat 120 tons, capacity of cook, 2 quarts.' 

"The canallers were hard drinkers; they always took three fingers of liquor 
and sometimes the thumb. Still, a toast that was popular was : 
"Here's to glorious cold water, 
We couldn't run the boat without her." 

In 1857 the canal was sold by the State to the Pennsylvania Kailroad Company.. 
It is a question that has often been discussed as to whether this was not a legisla- 
tive mistake ; whether its enlargement, as was the policy of New York with its canal,, 
would not have been better. Be that as it may, the railroad abolished the canal as 
they did the stage coach. Before the beginning of the century there were no stage 
lines. Traveling was done by private conveyance or on horseback. In 1805 the first 
stage line between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was started. The vehicles were- 
covered Jersey wagons with springs. In summer the passengers were covered 
with dust, and in winter half frozen, and the use of them was attended with 
much discomfort. Passengers were frequently obliged to walk up hill, and occa- 
sionally helped pry the coach out of the mud with a fence rail. With the increase 



PACK HORSE TO RAIL ROADS. ' 247 

of population the stage coach of some fifty years since came into use with its com- 
fortable cushioned seats, its team of four fast horses, changed every ten miles, and 
its smart drivers. The roads had been improved to good turnpikes, and in 1820 
the trip was made to Philadelphia in fifty hours, for which the price of a ticket 
was seventeen dollars. 

There were several lines that ran out of Pittsburgh over the northern route to 
the upper counties of the State, over the Greensburg route to Philadelphia and 
the Somerset route to Cumberland and Baltimore. 

As with the canal boat, there are pleasant remembrances of a three or four 
days' trip in a coach, although they had more discomforts than the boat. In the 
spring, summer and early autumn it was a delightful drive for those who could 
take occasional naps in the coach as it sped along. In the winter all travelers 
provided themselves with buffalo overshoes and robes, and with nine in a coach 
managed to make themselves cosy. The travel made it profitable to establish 
taverns along the route, where plentiful meals were served plainly cooked, but 
delicious in their cleanliness, and enjoyable from being served by the landlord's 
cheerful wife or laughing daughters. The seat wiih the driver on the top after 
the meal, for a smoke, was an envied privilege. The companionship into which 
the close packing of the nine seats inside the coach afforded brought out all the 
geniality of the several passengers, and humorous remarks, laughable stories, and 
often interesting talks on a wide range of subjects, for frequently eminent men 
were companion travelers. Then, as on the canal boats, rival lines incited races, 
either for the sport or to reach some desirable stopping place first. On such occa- 
sions "shad scales," as silver quarter dollars were called, rejoiced the drivers' 
hearts and replenished their pockets, a reward for skillful driving. Under these 
incentives the horses were urged to their utmost speed, and the drive, although at 
times verging on danger from the speed with which the coach was rushed down 
long hills, full of exhileration. 

The old stage coach times are days full of pleasant recollections to those 
who were travelers then, but as with the canal the railroad ended them, and with 
it came the fourth period of the overland transportation facilities of Allegheny 
county. 

In 1848 was begun the Pittsburgh & Ohio Eailroad, now the Pittsburgh, Fort 
"Wayne & Chicago, which was finished to Beaver in July, 1851, and thence there- 
after westward. In 1851 the Pittsburgh & Cleveland and Pittsburgh & Steuben- 
ville, now part of the St. Louis, Pittsburgh & Chicago Railroad, were organized. 
In 1852 the Pennsylvania Eailroad was opened for travel from Pittsburgh to 
Philadelphia, and by 1860 the main lines to Cincinnati and Chicago were in op- 
eration. Thereafter the railroad facilities of Allegheny county continued to in- 
crease, until now twelve distinct roads center at Pittsburgh, six of which are 
strictly trunk lines, and the other by their comprehensive connection virtually so. 

The railroad is the child of the day, and there needs no review of its past, as 
of the pack-horse, the Conestoga wagons, the stage coach and the canal boats, to 



248 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

call forth reminiscences. There is, however, a reminiscent anecdote toucliing the 
running of locomotives over the mountains connected with the building of the 
Pennsylvania Kaih'oad illustrative of their early building and their working now. 
The road across the mountains was built in the face of adverse criticism from 
many leading civil engineers of the day, who regarded the plan as impracticable. 
While in charge of the construction of the mountain division Mr. J. Edgar 
Thomson, afterwards superintendent of the road, met at Hollidaysburg James 
Burns, of Lewiston, then State Superintendent of Public Works. The conversa- 
tion that passed between them is thus related by Burns : 

"I asked him how he expected to take the cars over the mountains. He said 
by locomotives. Then I saw the man was a fool. I thought Pd find out just how 
big a fool he was, so I asked him how long he expected a train to be in running 
from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. ' Fifteen hours,' he said. Then I knew the 
man was a howling idiot and left him." 

Whatever the city of Pittsburgh has gained in the past from her unrivalled 
water highways, and however much she may hope to acquire in the future under 
some comprehensive system of river improvements by the National Grovernment, 
her present and her future is largely influenced by the facilities for railway trans- 
portation the city may possess. 

Located midway between an empire of population on the east and an empire 
of people on the west, to both of which the products of Pittsburgh, and the con- 
sumption thereof, are requisites to their own commerce, and the city's facilities for 
railroad communication with either section is direct, comprehensive and well sus- 
tained. There is no city of the Union whose railway system so comprehensively 
grasps, in a day's travel, the three great cities and export ports of the nation. 
With equal directness and force Pittsburgh stretches out a giant hand to grasp the 
trade of the West; literally, as well as metaphorically, for the delineation of the 
western railway routes of the city on the map is strikingly similar to an out- 
stretched hand. 

Eastwardly by the Pennsylvania Eailroad to Philadelphia it attaches to 
New York and the North-east by the New Jersey railroads, and to Baltimore 
and the South by the Northern Central Kailroad, which connects with the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad at Harrisburg. 

North-easterly by the Allegheny Valley Railroad the great trunk lines 
of the lake routes are reached, and a second direct connection with New York 
obtained. South-westerly by the Pittsburgh Division of the Baltimore & 
Ohio Railroad a second direction is secured with Baltimore. 

Thus, by her Eastern railways, two direct connections are available with New 
York, and two with Baltimore ; while the admirable advantages of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad give every facility to reach Philadelphia as well as New York and 
Boston. There is no city where three so great and important cities concentrate by 
their lines of railroads, traversed in such few hours, upon one community, so ad- 
vantageously situated to distribute by water or by rail to the West. 



PACK HO BSE TO RAIL ROADS. 249 

Westwardly by the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Kailroad to Chi- 
cago, it embraces in its connections the entire net- work of roads which cover the 
States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and reaches by various roads through the 
States of Missouri and Iowa. 

By the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad not only is a second 
avenue to Chicago and the North-west secured, but a direct route to St. Louis, 
140 miles shorter from the East than that by way of Buffalo and Cleveland. By 
this road a second and different connection is formed with the net of roads which 
so thoroughly intersect the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and the States be- 
yond the Mississippi. 

Northwardly by the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad the Pittsburgh 
railway system reaches the Lakes at Cleveland, and by the steamboat routes on 
them, with which this road forms close connections, the railroads of Chicago and 
Detroit, and thence westwardly. As a northern route this one is extremely valu- 
able. 

By the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad another direct Northern route is had 
as well as a second connection with the great East and West Lake lines of rail- 
road, giving yet another facility for reaching the East, as well as the West and 
North. 

By the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie another route is had to the North, North- 
west and West and East through its connections with East and West lines, at its 
intersection therewith in Ohio, aud also with the lakes, thus giving Pittsburgh 
access to the supply of the lake region by four distinct routes. 

By the Pittsburgh, Virginia & Charleston access is had towards the 
South along the south banks of the Monongahela, and by possible extension in 
future into Western Virginia, and thus into the great central South. 

The Western Pennsylvania Railroad gives facilities along the north 
shore of the Allegheny, and an auxilliary connection east by way of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad. 

The Pittsburgh & Western also gives facilities along the north bank of the 
Allegheny river, and in its future extensions or connections another route to the 
North-east. 

The Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Youghiogheny furnishes a second route 
up the course of the Youghiogheny and to the Connellsville coke regions, and 
possibly, in the future, in its extensions, a third trunk line to the sea coast. 

The value of the trunk lines to the growth of Pittsburgh, and their power of 
consumption of her products, is indicated by the population along their routes and 
the agricultural and manufacturing values contained in the counties through which 
they pass. By the census of 1880 there were in those counties— served by four 
main branches alone — 4,268,919 inhabitants; a cash value of farms of $1,221,383,- 
473 ; a cash value of farm products, annually, |189,634,059 ; a cash value of live 
stock, $113,612,804. There were 27,764 manufacturing establishments, which con- 
sumed materials to the value of $489,771.72, and produced articles to the amount 
of $577,995,091. 



250 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

To-day Pittsburgh originates more freight than any other city in the United 
States, except, perhaps, New York City. 

Until 1864 such a thing as through freight was unknown to Pittsburgh ship- 
pers. Each railroad carried goods to the terminus of its line, where they had to 
be unloaded and reshipped on the next road. Each railroad company had its own 
freight depot, which were generally wide apart and the freight had to be wagoned 
between them. In this year, however, the Union Star freight line, founded prin- 
cipally through the efforts of Wm. Thaw, began to ship freight through over the 
Pennsylvania Central and the newly bnilt Western lines. 

A consideration of the consumptions, the purchasing power, the traffic import- 
ance, the transportations, the travel, the circulation of money, which these statis- 
tics represent, show forcibly the wealth and importance of the markets these four 
lines alone chain to Pittsburgh by their facilities, and the value of the lines in 
themselves as the transportation agents of all that this wealth, production and con- 
sumption represents. 

It is the centrality of Pittsburgh's position on these lines, so briefly sketched, 
that renders this system of railways so valuable to her progress. By it an econ- 
omy of time in the transit of goods is secured ; and, as before pointed out, her pro- 
ducts need but travel half diameters to be distributed over a wide circle. All 
quarters of that circumference Pittsburgh's railway system markedly and admira- 
bly bisects ; and beyond the rim thereof, at the Mississippi, connects with the 
trans-Mississippi roads to all the wide markets beyond in the most direct manner. 

Marching with rapid steps to the position of a metropolitan manufacturing 
center Pittsburgh has at her command a railway system equal to her demand for 
supplies of whatever nature, and to her distribution requirements, whatever may 
be the magnitude of her productions. 



FINANCIAL INJSTITUTIONS. 251 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Financial Institutions. 

A narrative of the financial institutions of Allegheny county in a succinct form 
that will embrace correct chronological and geneological data is a difficult task. 
In attempting it many obstacles have arisen that may prevent its being given a& 
thoroughly as was designed, not the least among these being the difficulty of obtain- 
ing from those who were supposed to be the most interested, a concession of such 
time as would be required to examine the archives of the various institutions. The 
indifference that prevails as to the past has elsewhere been noted, and the rapidity 
with which" the business exactions of the present are destroying memories of past 
actors in the building up of the business interest of the county. It is said that the 
eyes of the old are turned backward, but the young ever look forward, and when 
the effort is made to collect in some general preservable shape the data relative to> 
business institutions or firms whose origination is in the past, the active generations 
of to-day have forgotten, and the retired or retiring veterans are few. To hunt 
among musty papers of years past is a task to which neither their inclinations- 
urge the actors of to-day, nor does their time permit, under the crowding pressure 
of so rapidly progressing a community as Pittsburgh, and especially has this been 
found the case among the financial institutions of the county. What has been 
gathered has been given, as some account of Allegheny county's record during its- 
hundred years in that class of business, and for the reasons given even that is, per- 
force, confined to the briefest statements. It will be, however, sufficient to enable 
some historian in the future to make a fuller narrative. 

The first bank in Pittsburgh was established January 1, 1804, in a stone build- 
ing which stood on Second street between Ferry street and Chancery lane. It wa& 
a branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and was the first bank west of the Alle- 
gheny Mountains. John Wilkins was the first president of this branch and Thos, 
L. Wilson its first cashier. John Thaw, father of Wm. Thaw, vice president of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad, came from Philadelphia here as the first teller of thi& 
branch. In the board of directors were Ebenezer Denny, subsequently the first 
mayor of Pittsburgh, Presley Neville, Abram Kirkpatrick, Adamson Tannehill^ 
George Stevenson and John Wilkins, Jr., all of whom had been officers in the 
Revolutionary Army. As president John Wilkins was succeeded by James- 
O'Hara, identified with the earlier glass manufacturing in the city. Mr. O'Hara 
was the president at the time this bank was merged in the United States Bank in 
1817, and the branch became the Office of Discounts and Deposits of the United 
States. James Corry being the cashier in 1833, he resigned to accept the cashier- 
ship of the Merchants and Manufacturers Bank, organized that year, and wa& 
succeeded by John Thaw. It continued to occupy the stone building until 1830^, 
when it removed to the banking house now occupied by the Mechanics National 
Bank, where it remained until its dissolution from the expiration of the charter 



252 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

of the parent bank, when it was rechartered as a branch of the United States 
Bank of Pennsylvania in 1836, which continued for three or four years and failed 
from cotton speculations, a forerunner of others who came to a similar end from 
their officers being tempted to embark the capital of the bank in enterprises out- 
ride of its legitimate province of legitimate banking. There has not, it is believed, 
been a bank failure in the city where the officials have conscientiously guarded the 
interest of the bank in this respect. 

The second bank, and perhaps justly to be styled the first bank at Pittsburgh, as 
it was organized here and its capital supplied by Pittsburgh merchants, was the 
Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company, which was organized in 1810, and did a 
banking and insurance business, beginning business in 1812 as a partnership. An 
application had been made for a charter, which was not obtained. In 1814, how- 
ever, a charter was obtained, and the Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company was 
merged into the present Bank of Pittsburgh. 

The Bank of Pittsburgh was chartered in 1813-14, and organized for busi- 
ness on November 22, 1814, with the following board of directors : Wm. Wilkins, 
Oeorge Anshutz, Jr., Thomas Cromwell, Nicholas Cunningham, John Darragh, 
William Hays, William McCandless, James Morrison, John M. Snowden, Craig 
Ritchie, George Allison, James Brown and J. P. Skelton. On the 28th of No- 
vember, 1814, Wm. Wilkins was chosen president, and Alexander Johnstone, Jr., 
cashier of the bank. The capital of the bank was nominally at this time $600,- 
€00 ; of this only $250,000 had been paid up to 1833, which in 1834 was increased 
to 11,200,000. 

Mr. Wilkins, who resigned November, 1819, was succceeded in the presidency 
hj John Darragh, who was followed by John McDonald, and he by Wm. H. 
Denny, who, in April, 1835, was succeeded by John Graham. In 1866 Mr. Gra- 
ham was succeeded in the prebidency by John Harper, who entered the bank in 
1832 as chief clerk, which position he retained until 1850, when he became assis- 
tant cashier; and on John Snyder's resignation in 1857, cashier, and on the retir- 
ing of Mr. Graham, in 1866, president, as above stated. Tliis oSice he still fills, 
^fter fifty-six years of continuous service in the same institution, nearly three- 
fourths of the bank's existence, having filled all the official grades from clerk to 
president, being to-day the oldest bank officer in continuous service in the city. 
On Mr. Harper's succession to the presidency, Wm. Roseburg was elected in 
March, 1866, cashier, which position he still fills. John A. Harper being subse- 
<]|uently elected assistant cashier. The bank declared its first dividend of four per 
cent, on May 15, 1815, and has paid regular semi annual dividends ever since, 
having paid up to May, 1888, one hundred and forty-six dividends, amounting to 
over $6,000,000, and has a surplus of $399,125.44. During the general suspension 
of specie payments in consequence of the Civil war it paid out in redemption of 
its notes and deposits $1,375,000 in gold. 

On August 2, 1814, the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Pittsburgh was char- 
tered with a capital of $450,000, began business and was apparently prosperous. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 2b3^ 

John Scull, one of the proprietors of the Gazette, was president, and George Lucky, 
was its first cashier. He was succeeded by Morgan Neville as cashier. Morgan 
Neville was also one of the proprietors and, for a considerable period, editor of the 
Gazette. The bank was robbed on the night of April 6, 1818, by a couple of men 
named Pluymart and Emmons. In that robbery the gold medal awarded by Con- 
gress to Gen. Daniel Morgan for heroism at Cowpens was lost and has never been 
recovered. The credit of the bank was hopelessly shaken by the robbery and it 
finally resolved to wind up its affairs July 20, 1819, when it had only $9000 in 
notes outstanding and $118,000 in demands against solvent parties. It did nothing 
further as a bank than to carry out the purpose of this resolution. Morgan Ne- 
ville resigned as its cashier November 29, 1819, having been elected SheriflT of 
Allegheny county, but continued as editor of the Gazette. 

Emmons was subsequently captured but Pluymart escaped. Emmons told 
where the money was secreted, below Beaver on the Ohio road at a point after- 
wards known as Pluymart's Rock. Emmons went with his captors and showed 
where the money was hidden, and $100,000 of the bank's notes and $1,800 of specie 
was recovered. Emmons expressed surprise that there was so little specie, and said 
that Pluymart must have visited the place and carried off some of the money. 
Pluymart was afterwards captured in Odgensburg, N. Y., with about $.5,000 on his 
person. He was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary, but subsequently 
escaped in company with a prisoner named Garrabrants. The robbers obtained 
entrance into the bank by stealing- the key from the city watchman's box, where it 
was kept, while he was warming his feet at his stove. By this means they entered 
the bank several times, always hanging the key up in the box without disturbing 
the watchman. In this way they obtained the dimensions of all the keyholes 
by measurements, and were enabled to make the robbery unmolested, and without 
noise. 

In 1818-19 what was called the City Bank, organized and opened for business- 
in a house then owned by Wm. Eobinson, Jr., where Wm. McCully & Co.'s glass 
warehouse now is, 18 and 20 Wood street. The president was the Kev. Robert 
Patterson, who kept a book store, Anthony Ernest, cashier. The bank made but 
one discount and then closed, the notes which it paid out were afterwards redeemed 
at the book store of the president. What was the cause of this sudden death of 
the institution does not appear. It may be presumed it was a bank mystery. 

In 1830, or about that date, Geo. A. Cook opened a banking house on Fourth 
street about where the Farmers Deposit National Bank now stands, in connection 
with which was the firm of Cook & Cassett, dealing in real estate. The selling of 
lottery tickets was then an authorized business, and Mr. Cook made that a part of 
his business. He was succeeded, about 1837, by E. Sibbett & Co., then Sibbett & 
Jones, about 1840, afterwards S. Jones & Co., (Judge Samuel Jones, Michael Jones, 
John Jones.) 

In 1821-2 the private banking house of N. Holmes & Sons was established. 
This old firm had its origin with James and Gordon Gilmore, v'ho had a cloth Irouse 



254 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

in 1819, on Water st., with which they established a small banking business. Thej 
^vent to Cincinnati in or about 1819-20, where they engaged in the banking busi- 
ness and continued it until quite old. When he left Pittsburgh Nathaniel Holmes 
succeeded to the business, the firm of J. Gilmore & Co., at Cincinnati, being for many 
years a correspondent of N. Holmes & Sons. Nathaniel Holmes established his 
bank about 1821-2, and subsequently associating with him his son, Thos. E., and 
later Nathaniel, the firm became N. Holmes & Sons, under which style it still con- 
tinues, there being a Nathaniel of the third generation now of the house. This 
private bank is the second oldest banking institution in the city, having been sixty- 
seven years in existence, passing from father to son in unbroken succession without 
interruption from any cause. 

In 1833 the Merchants & Manufacturers Bank was organized, at which time it 
was chartered by the State. It began business in June, 1833, with a capital of 
$600,000, the par value of the shares being |50. The first board of directors were 
Michael Tiernan, Isaac Lightner, T. B. Dallas, Jacob Forsythe, Thomas S. 
Clark, Geo. A. Cook, Fred. Lorenz, Samuel Church, Thos. Scott, Francis G. Bailey, 
Samuel Smith, S. Fahnestock, and John H. Shoenberger. 

The first president was Michael Tiernan, from June 4th, 1833, to April 10th, 
1845, he dying on the day of the great fire. He was succeeded by Thos. Scott, 
April 14th, 1845, who served until November 26th, 1849, when he was succeeded 
by Francis G. Bailey November 26th, 1849, who served until November 25th, 1850, 
when he was succeeded by Thos. Scott from November 25th, 1850, until October 
13th, 1857, and he by H. L. BoUman, from October 15th, 1857, to January 15thj 
1873, and he by Robt. H. Hartley, from January 15th, 1873, to October 13th, 1875, 
when, he dying, was succeeded by Wm. Rea, who was succeeded by Eeuben Miller, 
Jr., and he by E. M. Ferguson, now president. 

The first cashier was James Corry who served from June 5th, 1833, until July 
2d, 1836, when he was succeeded by Jesse Carothers, who served from July 2d, 
18S6, to February 1st, 1842, when he was succeeded by W. H. Denny, who served 
from February 1st, 1842, to May 10th, 1863, T. B. Dickson acting cashier from 
May 11th, 1863, to June 1st, 1863, at which latter date John Scott, Jr. was elected 
-cashier and served until February 1st, 1874, when William A. Shaw was elected 
cashier on February 16th, 1874, and continues to hold the office. The bank has 
paid since its organization |3,141,000 of dividends, and its surplus and undivided 
profits>re $103,000. 

In 1836 the Exchange Bank was chartered by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 
with a capital of $1,000,000, and the fii-st meeting of its board of directors was 
held May 18th, 1836. The first board of directors were, Wm. Eobinson, Jr., Syl- 
vanus Lathrop, James E. Ledlie, Geo. Wallace, Tobias Meyers, B. A. Fahnestock, 
Samuel P. Darlington, John Grier, John Freeman, W. G. Alexander, James W. 
Erown, Samuel Baird, Harvey Childs. It began business in a small store building 
on the north side of Second street, between Market and Ferry, but soon removed 
to its new building on Fifth avenue, near Wood street, where it continued business 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 255 

for thirty-six years. In 1873 its present banking house was begun, and in 1874 it 
moved in. Wm. Eobinson, Jr., was elected the first president of the bank. He 
served until the close of 1851, when he was succeeded by Thos. M. Howe, in 1852. 
On Mr. Howe retiring from the presidency, he continued a director until his death, 
being thirty-seven years in continuous connection with the bank in an official 
capacity. Mr. Howe was succeeded by James M. Murray, and John H. Shoen- 
berger succeeded Mr. Murray. On Mr. Shoenberger resigning, Mark W. Watson, 
the present incumbent of the office, succeeded him. 

The first cashier was John Foster, Jr., and on Mr. Foster resigning in 1839 
Thos. M. Howe succeeded him, Mr. Howe resigning in 1852, having been elected 
president. James B. Murray was elected cashier. 

On Mr. Howe retiring from' the presidency of the bank Mr. Murray resigned 
to succeed him, and Henry M. Murray was elected cashier. Henry M. Murray 
resigned on November 30, 1869, at which date he was succeeded by Andrew Long 
who is now cashier. On April 8th, 1865, the bank was chartered under the U. S. 
laws as a Nationnal Bank, and its title changed to the Exchange National Bank, 
and its capital is now |1, 200,000. The bank has paid since its organization as a 
National Bank $3,655,000 of dividends. Its regular surplus is $400,000; other 
profits, $104,094. The par value of its stock is $50 per share ; its book value $70, 
and its market value $80. 

In 1833 was organized the Pittsburgh Savings Fund Company, which was re- 
chartered as the Farmers Deposit Company in 1844. 

The organization of the Pittsburgh Savings Fund Company, which thus be- 
came the nucleus of one of the leading financial institutions of the city, was 
effected by ten men paying in $10 apiece as capital, and subsequently adding $2 
a week apiece. Their number soon swelled to fifty, but they were very particular 
as to who could be admitted, one black ball being sufficient to reject. The orig- 
inal ten members were James Fulton, who was the first president ; James Ander- 
son, the first secretary; Keuben Miller, Jr., the first treasurer; James Marshall, 
James Armstrong, Nathan Carlisle, Hugh Sweney, Eobert Galway, Samuel George 
and Gabriel Adams. 

The first banking house was on St. Clair street, now Sixth, at which time 
James McAuley was its first clerk or cashier, the bank having but one at that 
time. In May, 1841, the title of the bank was changed to the Farmers Deposit 
Bank and its place of business removed to 57 Fourth avenue, and Gabriel Adams 
elected president and Thompson Bell cashier. On May 13, 1845, James Marshall 
was elected president, which office he held until his death, when William Walker 
succeeded him. April 17, 1849, Thompson Bell resigned, and John Magoffin was 
elected his successor. The present site of the building was purchased in June, 
1853, and an iron building erected. On June 25, 1857, the Farmers Deposit Bank 
relinquished its charter and organized with individual liability under the title of 
the Farmers Deposit Banking Company, re-electing the former president and 
cashier, and James Marshall, John Scott, John McDevitt, Samuel George, Wm. 
Walker, Thos. Mellon, Eichard Floyd as directors. 



256 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

On August 15, 1867, Mr. Magoffin resigned to accept the casliiership of the 
Iron City Bank, and A. P. McGrew was elected his successor. Mr. McGrew resigned 
August 15, 1857, and Eobert Alexander George was chosen as his successor. On 
December 19, 1864, the bank was chartered as a National Bank. R. A. George 
dying in June, 1868, F. L. Stephenson was elected his successor. Mr. Stephen- 
son resigned January 30, 1871, and Samuel George succeeded him, acting until 
January 14, 1880, at which time William Walker resigned the presidency *and 
Samuel George was elected his successor, and T. H. Given elected to succeed 
Samuel George in the office of cashier. On Mr. George's death, Joseph Walton wa& 
elected to the presidency. 

The bank has declared over $1,500,000 of dividends since its organization as a 
National Bank ; its capital is $300,000, and its surplus $600,000. The market value 
of its stock is $400 on a par value of $100. The bank, in 1886-7, erected a new 
banking house, which is one of the architectural ornaments of the city. 

In 1841 Allen Kramer began the business of banking. He subsequently asso- 
sociated with him Edward Eahm, under the title of Kramer & Eahm, the banking^ 
house being at the corner of Wood and Third streets, and subsequently Florence 
Kramer was associated in the firm. The banking house was subsequently removed 
to Fifth avenue, to the building now occupied by the Central Bank, which finally 
succeeded to the business of the firm, about 1868. 

In 1845 Joseph H. Hill and Wm. Curry established a banking house under 
the firm style of Hill & Curry, and began business at what is now No. 313 Wood 
street. Mr. Curry subsequently removing to Erie, Pa., the firm became Hill & 
Co., and in 1865, when the National Bank of Commerce was organized, the busi- 
aess of Hill & Co. was transferred to it, Joseph H. Hill becoming the first cashier 
)f that bank. 

In 1846 the firm of Hussey, Hanna & Co. began banking. This firm subse- 
quently became Hanna, Hart & Co., (Joshua Hanna, Wm. K. Hart, C. P. Caughey,) 
and in 1862-3 were the agents at Pittsburgh for the sale of the first governmental 
bonds issued to meet the expenses of the Civil war. Their office was for many 
years at the N. W. corner of Wood street and Third avenue. The firm subse- 
quently became Hart, Caughey & Co., under which style it ceased to exist. 

About 1846 Warwick, Martin & Co. carried on banking business at the N. E» 
corner of Wood street and Third avenue, the company being a huge German by 

the name of Kahl, who was remarkable for wearing on his left thumb a 

very large seal ring, and also for some other eccentricities. The firm became in- 
volved in financial troubles and closed. 

The intersection of Wood and Third street was in those days a favorite locality 
for banking houses. 

In 1848 Cook & Harris opened a banking house, (Jacob W. Cook, Harris,) 

which subsequently became Harris & Co., and was carried on under that style in 
1856, but later wound up its business. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 257 

In 1848 Wm. H. Williams began the banking business at the corner of Wood 
and Third street, which firm subsequently became Wm. H. Williams & Cc^ 
Through a robbery of its safe by burglars it became necessary for the banking 
firm to close up its business. The burglars rented the room above the banking 
house, and one Sunday leisurely cut through the floor to the top of the safe in the 
room below and then through the brick top of the vault, and carried off the funds. 
The money was never recovered. 

About this date a firm styled Hoon & Seargent had a banking house at the 
corner of Sixth and Wood streets. The firm succumbed under financial difficulties, 
and the partners are some years since dead. 

In 1850 George E. Arnold & Co. opened a banking house on Fourth street, a 
few doors from Wood. Subsequently Mr. Arnold closed the business and removed 
to Philadelphia. 

In 1851 the firm of Patrick & Friend opened a banking house on the north-west 
corner of Wood street and Diamond alley. This firm subsequently became E. Patrick 
& Co., and removed to the corner of Wood and Fifth streets (now avenue), and 
subsequently to its present location, 52 Fifth avenue, having conducted a continu- 
ous and successful banking business for thirty-seven years, without lapse from 
any cause. 

In 1851 O'Connor Bro. & Co. (James O'Connor, Hercules O'Connor,) began the 
banking business at No. 15 Wood street, which they continued until 1864, when 
James O'Connor and associates organized the Fourth National Bank, at which 
time the business of the banking house was discontinued. 

In 1852 John Woods opened a banking house at 61 Fourth avenue, which 
ultimately succumbed to financial pressure. 

About 1850 A. Wilkins & Co., (Alvin Wilkins) had a banking house in the 
old United States Bank building. Fourth avenue. In 1855 they sold their lease 
of the building to the Mechanics Bank and withdrew from the business a short 
time afterwards. 

In 1848-50, William Larimer, Jr., formerly the proprietor of the Eagle Hotelj 
on Liberty street, opened a banking house at 68 Fourth street, (now avenue). 
In 1854 he failed with heavy loss to depositors, and went to Kansas, where he 
afterward became a member of the legislature of that State. While resident at 
Pittsburgh he was the president of the Youghiogheny Navigation Co., which 
after improving by locks and dams the river as far as West Newton feU into decay. 
Mr. Larimer was quite prominent in the Free Soil party, in its day, and was^other- 
wise prominent. About the same time Hugh D. King, also opened a banking 
house on Fourth street a few doors east of Market street. He also succumbed to 
the local financial panic of 1854. 

In 1854 Arthurs, Rodgers & Co. opened a banking house on the corner of 
Fourth avenue and Smithfield street, but the firm had but a short existence,f be- 
coming financially involved. 

In 1855 Wm. A. Herron & Co. began the banking business at the cornerjof 
Sixth street (now avenue) and Wood street. Frank J. Herron, who, during the 
17 



258 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

civil war, obtained the rank of Major General for gallant conduct, was a member 
of this firm, which not being found profitable closed out. 

About the same period Samuel McClean, who had previously been in the 
banking business on Diamond alley, embarked in the banking business. When he 
died some years after his son, Samuel E. McClean, succeeded him, and the firm 
style was changed to S. McClean & Co. The firm subsequently became involved 
and was closed out. 

The firm of Ira B. McVay & Co. was the style of another banking firm of this 
period of private banks. Their banking house was at the corner of Fourth ave- 
nue and Smithfield street. After Ira B. McVay's death the firm was continued by 
his sons under the same business style. It also became involved after some years 
of success and went into the hands of assignees, Mr. McVay's sons going to the 
West, where they afterwards accepted positions as cashiers and presidents of 
Western banks, Charles B. returning to Pittsburgh, and is now secretary and treas- 
urer of the Fidelity Title and Trust Company of Pittsburgh. 

In the period ending about 1855, from about 1841, there seems to have been a 
furor at Pittsburgh for embarking in the banking business. Superinduced to some 
extent by the increasing business of the city, the more rapid circulation of money, 
and the limited number of regular chartered banks. The record of the successful 
management of these banking houses is not especially favorable to the financial 
acumen of those who meddle thus with finance. One reason of which was that 
many of the individuals had but a very limited or no training in the art of bank- 
ing, and often with but limited capital, banking largely on their deposits. 

In July, 1852, the Pittsburgh Trust Company was chartered and organized as 
a bank of discount and deposit, with a paid up capital of |200,000, afterwards the 
First National Bank. 

The First National Bank of Pittsburgh originated with the Fifth Ward Sav- 
ings Bank, an institution projected by James Laughlin and carried into operation 
by him and associates. It had its ofiEice in Hays' oil mill, on Liberty street, near 
Twelfth. It was organized as a Savings Bank simply, with regular assessments, 
payable weekly. Mr. Laughlin was its president. 

Some time about 1844^5 an association of business men obtained a charter for 
a bank called the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Company. The books for sub- 
scription to its stock were advertised to be open on April 10, 1845. The great fire 
frustrated the enterprise, the most of the organizers being burned out and heavy 
losers by the fire. 

The charter of the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Company was purchased by 
the Fifth Ward Savings Bank, and on July 13, 1852, the Pittsburgh Trust Com- 
pany was organized, with a capital of |200,000, and on July 28, 1852, John D. 
Scully was elected actuary, or cashier, and James Laughlin president. The first 
board of directors were James Laughlin, Thomas Hays, B. F. Jones, John Lind- 
say, I. M. Pennock, Samuel Eea, William Bingliam, William K. Nimick, James 
A. Hutchinson. In 1863 the Pittsburgh Trust Company applied for a charter un- 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 259 

der the National Banking Act, with a capital of $500,000. It was organized under 
that charter, with no change of president or cashier. This bank was the first in 
the United States to make application for a charter under the National Bank Act, 
and should have the credit of being the pioneer National Bank in the United 
States. At the time the bank made application for its charter there were no gov- 
ernmental forms prepared for that purpose. Those of the Pittsburgh Trust Com- 
pany having for that reason experienced delays before completion, being sent back 
for some technical changes arising out of its being already a chartered institution. 
Through this delay four other banks in small towns obtained their charters before 
the First National Bank of Pittsburgh. Its application was, however, the first 
made to the Treasury Department at Washington, and it is entitled to be called 
the first National Bank of the United States as well as the First National Bank 
of Pittsburgh, and the county of Allegheny to the honor of the pioneer National 
Bank, as she is to the pioneer bank west of the Alleghenies. 

When the Fifth Ward Savings Bank was absorbed in the Pittsburgh Trust 
Company it was moved down to Wood street, within two doors of its present loca- 
tion, corner of Wood street and Fifth avenue, where the bank subsequently erected 
its present banking house. There are some commercial historical facts connect- 
ed with the plot of ground on which it stands. On June 24, 1786, John Penn 
and John Penn, Jr., deeded to John Crawford Lot 407, fronting on Fifth street, 
on the line of the corner lot, beginning 60 feet from the corner of Wood street 
and running west on Fifth avenue, and a depth of 240 feet to Virgin alley, for 
the consideration of £10 in Pennsylvania currency, about $40. On February 9 
1790 John Crawford deeded Lot 407 to James O'Hara for £40, gold and silver. 
0<March 15, 1806, James O'Hara deeded to William McCullough Lots 406 and 
407, 60 feet east on Fifth avenue by 240 feet to Virgin alley, for the considera- 
tion of $1,800. William McCullough deeded the lots to William Porter, the first 
iron manufacturer at Pittsburgh, noticed in the chapter on iron industries, in 
1808, in which year William Porter died. The same piece of ground is now 
valued, without. the buildings, at about $2,000,000. 

Shortly after the organization of the bank under its national charter Charles 
F. Speer was elected assistant cashier, which office he still fills, as does John D. 
Scully that of cashier, being the oldest cashier in continuous service in the city. 
Mr. James Laughlin died December 18, 1882, having been president of the insti- 
tution from its origination as the Fifth Ward Savings Bank until his death, when 
Alexander Nimick succeeded him in the presidency of the First National Bank. 

James Laughlin was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1806. His father was 
a'farmer. Mr. Laughlin received his education at Belfast, and after a course of 
study returned home to assist his father on the farm. When he was of the age of 
23 years the family decided to emigrate to the United States. The farm was sold 
and early in 1829 the family set sail. After a passage of forty-five days they 
landed at Baltimore. For about a year Mr. Laughlin was occupied in disposing 
of an invoice of queensware he had bought at Liverpool before sailing. The ven- 



260 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

ture did not prove remunerative, and he came to Pittsburgh, where, with his 
brother, under the firm style of A. Laughlin & Co., he entered the provision busi- 
ness and established a branch house at Evansville. The partnership was dissolved* 
in 1855. In 1855 James Langhlin embarked in the iron business with B. F. Jonesy 
under the firm style of Jones & Laughlin, of which firm he was a member until* 
his death. He organized the Fifth Ward Savings Bank, as before mentioned, was- 
also the founder of the Eliza blast furnace of Laughlin & Company. He was one- 
of the corporators of the Western Pennsylvania Deaf and Dumb Institute, and 
one of its directors until his death. He was one of the founders of the Pennsyl- 
vania Female College. Mr. Laughlin died on December 18th, 1882, mourned by 
all with whom he had ever had business relations. He was a good illustration of 
that Scotch-Irish population whose conservatism and yet persistent enterprise- 
have been such efiTective factors in the building up of the industries and mercantile 
interest of Allegheny county. 

The total dividends declared by the bank since its organization as a National- 
bank amounts to |1,689,250. Its surplus fund is |150,000, and the undivided 
profits are $38,947.31. The par value of its stock is $100 a share, its market value 
$165, and its book value $150. 

In 1853 the Citizens Deposit Bank was organized under the State laws and in- 
corporated. This bank originated with the Citizens Savings Bank, organized in 
1851 by Andrew McMasters, John Shipton, Francis Sellers, James Kelley, Wil- 
liam Dawson and Capt. William Barker, who were the first board of directors^ 
Its first president was William Dawson, and James Cooper the treasurer, who wa& 
afterwards succeeded by Samuel McClurkan as cashier. The bank had its ofBce 
in the Masonic Building, Fifth avenue, where the capital stock was paid in in- 
stallments. In 1853 the Savings Bank was chartered by the State as the Citizens 
Deposit Company, with a capital of $200,000, Oliver Blackburn being chosen its 
first president, and E. D. Jones its cashier. In 1857 the name of the bank was 
changed by an Act of Legislature and privilege given to issue notes. In 1864 the 
bank was chartered under the United States laws as a National bank, and Francis 
Sellers was the first president under the new charter. He was succeeded in 1865 
by George A. Berry, at this time president. E. D. Jones was succeeded by George 
T. Van Doren as cashier, and he by Jasper E. Brady. In 1870 R. K. Wilson be- 
came cashier, and still holds that office. In 1876 the capital stock was increased 
to $800,000. The bank has paid $1,724,500 of dividends since its organization a» 
a National Bank, and has a surplus of $175,000. 

The Dollar Savings Bank was organized June, 1855. Geo. Albree was its first 
president and Chas A. Colton its first treasurer. Mr. Albree retired on September 
10th, 1869, and was succeeded by James Herdman, who is now president. Mr. 
Colton died June 7th, 1881, when he was succeeded by J. B. D. Meeds, who had 
been secretary from July 10, 1865, as treasurer, and he was succeeded by J. Walker 
Fleniken. The bank opened for business July 19th, 1855, with thirty-nine good 
men as trustees and a deposit of fifty dollars the first day, two dollars the second^ 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 261 

and notliing the third. That is thirty-three years ago, and on June 1st, 1888, the 
total of the assets were $12,455,731.23, and the number of depositors, 29,059, av- 
-eraging $399.96 each. 

The Mechanics National Bank of the city of Pittsburgh was incorporated in 
1855, and began business July 2d, with a capital of $450,000. On December 24, 
1864, it was chartered as a National Bank, with an increased capital of $500,000. 

The first thirteen members of this bank were George W. Cass, James A. Hut- 
-chinson, Eobert Dalzell, W. B. Holmes, W. Butler, R. Miller, Jr., Alexander 
Speer, W. J. Morrison, John Herron, W. A. Smith, Alexander Gordon, Isaac 
•Jones and James P. Hanna. 

The first president of the Mechanics National Bank was Reuben Miller, Jr., 
elected July 2d, 1855, declining re-election November 22d, 1855. The second 
president was W. B. Holmes, elected November 22d, 1855, died May 7th, 1881 
W. R. Thompson was then appointed. May 12th, 1881, on the resignation of 
-whom, December 7th, 1881, William Carr, who still fills the office, was elected. 

The first cashier was George D. McGrew, elected July 2d, 1855, but resigned 
•June 14th, 1864. He was succeeded by John J. Martin, elected June 21st, 1864, 
who served until his death, on October 7th, 1875. W. R. Thompson was then 
^elected, October 15th, 1875, and on his resignation to accept the presidency. May 
12th, 1881, the fourth cashier, George J. Gorman, was elected. May 23d, 1881. 

The total dividends paid since the organization as a National Bank are 
-$1,390,000 ; surplus, $350,000 ; the book value of stock, $90 ; market value, $96 ; 
par value, $50. 

The Allegheny National Bank was incorporated August, 1857, and began busi- 
ness on Federal street, Allegheny City, with a capital of $500,000, 

The first board of directors was Hopewell Hepburn, J. H. Shoenberger, William 
Bagaley, David Campbell, Josiah King, James L. Graham, James Park, Jr., C. G. 
Hussey, George W. Cass, R. I. Leech, Jr., C. H. Paulson, William M. Edgar, P. 
Peterson. 

The first president was Hopewell Hepburn, who was succeeded by William 
bagaley, November 19th, 1860, and he by Joshua Rhodes, January 14th, 1867, 
and he by J. W. Cook, who died January, 1883. He was succeeded by W. M. 
McCandless on January 27th, 1883, who still continues in office. 

The first cashier, Jacob W. Cook, was succeeded by Robert W. Mackey, Sep- 
tember 18th, 1865, and he by W. McCandless on January 16th, 1871, and he by 
George A. Cook on January 27th, 1883, who died October 3d, 1887. He was suc- 
.ceeded by the present cashier, F. C. Hutchinson, October 8th, 1887. 

The total dividends paid since the organization of the bank is $1,252,500; sur- 
.plus, $160,000; book value of stock, $69 ; market value, $60.50. 

The Iron City Bank, of Pittsburgh, was incorporated 1857 and began business 
August 27th, 1857, in Burke's building on Fourth avenue. It had a capital of 
:$400,000. 

The first board of directors was, — James McAuley, J. L. Schwartz. James Mc- 
dully, John Watt, Daniel Euwer, Andrew D. Smith, Richard Hays, Wm, Walker, 



262 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

James Herdman, John Floyd, Thos. L. Shields, John B. Semple and Robert 
Dunlap, Jr. 

The first president was James McAulej, who was succeeded upon his death,. 
January 9th, 1871, by Richard Hays who came into office July 11th, 1871, and 
died October 2Qd, 1877. He was succeeded by the present president, A. M. Byers,. 
October 6th, 1877. 

James McAuley was born in Mercer, Mercer county, about 1812 or 13, his- 
father was a bricklayer, at which business Mr. McAuley worked for some time.. 
He came to Pittsburgh about 1830-2 and became a clerk with James Gormly, who- 
carried on the dry goods business on Market street. After the Savings Bank from 
which the Farmers Deposit Company originated was organized he became its- 
clerk. He resigned that position to become a clerk with H. S. Spang & Son, the 
iron manufacturers, subsequently becoming a partner in the firm of Spang & Co, 
When the Iron City Bank was organized he was elected its president which office 
he held until his death. He was for many years a member of the City Councils^ 
and chairman of its finance committee, also a member of the executive committee 
of the Committee of Public Safety, as elsewhere noted, during the war. Through 
that period he was active in many of the movements of the day, and assisted large- 
ly in a financial way in raising and equipping the 155th Regiment from Allegheny^ 
county. He was a director at various times in the local insurance companies of 
the city, and at all times gave liberally to the promotion of benevolent institutions,. 
in many of which he took an active interest, and was in all respects a representa- 
tive man, and a public spirited citizen. 

The first cashier was John Magoffin who died July 12th, 1871 and was suc- 
ceeded by George R. Duncan, who served from July 15th, 1871, to his death, which 
occurred September 29th, 1887, and was succeeded by Oliver Lemon, the present 
cashier. 

The Iron City Bank Company became a national bank in 1864. 

Total dividends paid since its organization $1,283,000. Surplus $850,000. Par- 
value of shares |50 ; book value of shares $90. Dividends as State bank $267,000.. 
Dividends as National bank $1,076,000 to April 30th, 1888. Total $1,283,000. 

The Second National Bank of Pittsburgh was organized as Iron City Trust 
Company, July 5th, 1859, but reorganized as Second National Bank December 
11th, 1863. Began business at the same date. The first banking room being; 
under the Academy of Music, Liberty street, with a capital of $300,000. 

The first board of directors was, — G. E. Warner, Washington McClintock,. 
Henry McCullough, Jake Hill, John Heath, Wm. Siebert, Rob't Anderson, Alex.. 
Forsythe, and John Moorhead. 

The first president was Judge Griswold E. Warner who was succeeded by Geo.. 
S. Head, and he by Wm. Cooper, who was succeeded by James H. Willock, the 
present president. 

Robert C. Schmertz, Esq., the first cashier was succeeded successively by Johrt 
E. Patterson, Chas. H. Riggs, Robert J. Stoney, Jas. H. Willock, and Thos. W 
Welsh, Jr. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 263 

Since organization as a National bank it has paid forty-four dividends amount- 
ing to $531,000. Surplus $150,000. Par value of shares $100 each. Market 
value $165 each ; book value the same. Undivided profits remaining $40,379.26. 

The Union National Bank of Pittsburgh, originally called the Union Banking 
Company, commenced to do a regular banking business September 1st, 1859, and 
continued up to February 1st, 1865, at which time it became the Union National 
Bank, which organized December, 1864, and commenced business February 1st, 
1865, at the corner of Fourth avenue and Market street, with a capital of $250,000. 

The Union National Bank had its origination in what was styled the Diamond 
Savings Institution, which was projected about 1857 by a number of business men 
doing business in the Diamond and on Market street. The subscribers to the in- 
stitution paid in a fixed sum weekly, and its office was at 74 Market street. About 
1858-9 the original contributors to the Diamond Saving Institute associated them- 
selves as the Union Banking Company, John K. McCune being elected president. 
On September 5, 1859, the first statement of the banking company was made, 
showing a capital of $56,500, a deposit line of $8,500, and earnings to the amount 
of $2,800. 

The German National Bank, organized from the German Trust and Saving 
Company, which was organized in 1860 for a savings bank, as a co-partnership, 
and had a capital of $100,000 to be paid in installments. 

The first board of directors were, — Augustus Hoeveler, Joseph Lang, Springer 
Harbaugh, Anthony Meyer, Christian Seibert, E. Hilleyers, John F. Havecotte, 
Adam Reineman, John S. Dilworth. 

Augustus Hoeveler was president and John Stewart cashier. Mr. Hoeveler 
resigned and Adam Reineman succeeded him, for one year, when Mr. Hoeveler 
was again elected president and remained president until after the company was, 
in 1863, organized as the German National Bank, with a paid up capital of $250,- 
000. Par value of shares $100. 

The first board of directors of the German National Bank was composed of the 
same persons as in the German Trust and Savings Company. 

In 1868 Mr. Hoeveler resigned, and Mr. Groetzinger was elected president, and 
October of the same year Joseph Laurent cashier. Both of these officers have 
continued in their respective positions until the present time. 

The German Trust and Savings Company made regular semi-annual dividends 
of from four to five per cent., and had a surplus of about $31,000 when it was 
merged into the German National Bank, which has paid since its organization 
$932,287.72 of dividends, and has a surplus of $390,000. The market value of 
the stock is $310, on a par of $100. 

The Fifth Avenue Bank was organized in 1861, with a capital of $100,000. 

E. W. Dithridge was its first president. He was succeeded by D. M. Armor, and 
he by H. F. White. The first cashier was F. C. Schenck. He was succeeded by 

F. C. Henry, and he by Julius F. Stark. 

In 1864 the Union Banking Company was chartered as a National Bank, with 
a capital of $000,000. 



264 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

The first board of directors was John E. McCune, Joseph Home, John Wilson, 
John Marshall, Jared M, Brush, Charles Barchfield, Alex. G. Cubbage, C. Harri- 
son Love, Joseph Kirkpatrick ; the former officers being retained. 

John K. McCune, the first president, continued so until his death, January 
31st, 1888, when he was succeeded by Robert S. Smith. 

John R. McCune was born June 11, 1826, in Beaver county, and he came when 
but about twelve years of age to Pittsburgh, and entered the employ of William 
Young, who kept a leather store on Diamond alley, as an errand boy. He re- 
mained with Mr. Young until manhood, when Mr. McCune, associating with him 
James B. Young, purchased the business from William Young, and began the 
leather business on his own account. He subsequently removed to Liberty street, 
where he carried on the business until he was elected president of the bank. He 
was at one time a partner in the firm of Thompson, Hanna & McCune, a special 
firm organized to deal in oil in the early days of the petroleum excitement, for a 
limited period. He represented the Fourth ward of the city of Pittsburgh in 
Councils for a number of years, and was on the Finance Committee of that body. 
He was also an active member of the Executive Committee of the Committee of 
Public Safety during the war, and prominent in all the public movements of the 
day. After entering upon his duties as president of the bank he devoted all his 
time and energies to its success, although he was frequently called upon to take 
active part in public movements, where his recognized ability made it desirable to 
have his services. These he unhesitatingly always gave with cheerfulness, and 
acted with the same energy that he at all times had used in his own private busi- 
ness and as a bank official. His judgment and advice was often sought in the 
financial difficulties and commercial ventures of his fellow citizens, and was always 
cheerfully and honestly given. His death was looked upon as a loss to the com- 
munity, as his life had been a benefit. 

Robert S. Smith was the first cashier, and was succeeded by Clias. F. Dean on 
Mr. Smith resigning to accept the presidency. 

The total dividends paid as a National Bank were $152,500, the surplus being 
$500,000, with market value at $300 per share, the par value being $100. 

The Real Estate Savings Bank, limited, was incorporated the 12th day of 
April, 1862, as the Real Estate Savings Institution, with Thomas M. Howe, Isaac 
Jones, Jacob Painter, J. K. Moorhead, Harvey Childs, William H. Smith, W. B. 
Copeland, C. G. Hussey and Nicholas Voegtly (all now deceased except C. G. 
Hussey) as incorporators. 

August 22, 1866, the name was changed by Act of the Legislature to the Real 
Estate Savings Bank — bank for savings. 

The funds of this bank are loaned on real estate. United States and State secu- 
rities. It opened for business on Tuesday, the 6th day of May, 1862, at their 
office, No. 63 Fourth street, now Fourth avenue, and continued there until April, 
1872, when it removed to the corner of Smithfield street and Fourth avenue. 

Isaac Jones was elected president on its organization, and served until his 
death, December 28, 1878, a period of over sixteen years. He was succeeded by 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 265 

James H. Hopkins, who held the office until November 26th, 1884, when he re- 
signed, and was succeeded by Jas. S. McCord, the present chairman. 

A. A. Carrier, the first secretary and treasurer, held the office until his death, 
November 2, 1869, and was succeeded by his brother, S. S. Carrier, who resigned 
on January 16th, 1871, whereupon George H. Holtzman was elected, and served 
until his removal from the city, September 1st, 1876, when he resigned, and Chas. 
R. Fenderick was appointed, and holds the position at the present time. 

December 31st, 1885, it reorganized as the Real Estate Savings Bank, limited, 
with a paid up capital of $100,000, and has now, after having paid handsome div- 
idends to the shareholders, a contingent fund of over $30,000. 

The Pittsbargh Bank for Savings originated with the Dime Savings Institu- 
tion, which was chartered by the Legislature of the vState of Pennsylvania April 
11th, 1862. The bank organized by the election of the following board of trus- 
tees : President, James Park, Jr.; vice presidents, W. H. Smith, J. F. Jennings, 
H. F. Rudd, A. Reineman, T. D. Messier, T. S. Blair, Joshua Rhodes, J. Stuck- 
rath, F. Sellers, H. Lloyd, Alex. Bradley, A. Slack ; trustees, Josiah King, Jos. 
Dilworth, R. D. Cochran, A. S. Bell, W. H. Phelps, S. H. Hartman, G. B. Jones, 
J. W. Baxter, J. M. Tiernan, S. S. Fowler, R. J. Anderson, C. H. Wolff, F. Rahm, 

B. F. Jones, D. E. McKinley, D. M. Long, W. A. Reed, W. Ihmsen, C. Zug, C. W. 
Ricketson, R. C. Schmertz, C. B. Herron, J. W. Woodwell ; secretary and treasurer, 
D. E. McKinley. 

The bank was intended by its originators to encourage the habit of saving 
trifling sums among the laboring population. The depositors' books of the insti- 
tution opened May 1st, 1862, and the first day's deposits was $100.35. The insti- 
tution worked successfully for three years, when a supplement was obtained by 
which the title of the institution was changed to the Pittsburgh Bank for Savings, 
and the following amendment made to its original charter : 

" Sec. 2. That, for the greater security of depositors in the said institution, it 
is hereby enacted that a capital stock shall be created, to consist of seventy-five 
thousand dollars, to be divided into fifteen shares of five thousand dollars each ; 
that each of the corporators shall be the owner of one share, the said capital to 
be paid in or secured to be paid by the several corporators, and to be always liable 
for the payment to the depositors of the principal and accrued interest thereon." 

At the election for officers the following board and officers were elected : Pres- 
ident, Geo. A. Berry ; vice presidents, Jas. Park, Jr., S. H. Hartman ; secretary 
and treasurer, D. E. McKinley ; trustees, Alex. Bradley, Jno. Scott, G. Follansbee, 
Christopher Zug, A. S. Bell, Jas. L. Graham, Jno. S. Dilworth, W. K. Nimick, R. 

C. Schmertz, Frank Rahm, Joshua Rhodes. At the same time a capital stock of 
$75,000 was created. 

On May 6th, 1876, D. McKinley resigned the office of Secretary and treasurer 
and Chas, G. Milnor, who had been chief bookkeeper, was elected to succeed him ^ 
and has occupied the position ever since, and D. W. Jones was elected as chief 
bookkeeper. James Park dying, he was succeeded by Alexander Bradley. 



266 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

On June 30th, 1862, a statement of the assets of the bank showed $3,264.10. 
Twenty years afterwards, on June 30th, 1886, the statement showed $1,163,906.61; 
and July, 1888, they were $1,795,162. They have paid depositors since its organi- 
zation $740,899 of accrued interest on deposits. The banking capital, provided for 
in the supplement to the charter quoted above, has been supplemented by a sur- 
plus of $75,000 and undivided profits of $25,000. 

The First National Bank of Allegheny, Pa , was incorporated December 3dy 
1863, and organized January 1st, 1864. Its began business January, 1864, with a 
capital of $350,000. It first banking house was at 110 Federal street, and the first 
board of directors was composed of T. H. Nevin, C. C. Boyle, E. H. Davis, Arthur 
Hobson, D. N. White, John Thompson, Wm. Harbaugh, Henry Gerwig, John 
Dean. 

The first president, T. H. Nevin, who died April 30, 1884, was succeeded by 
the present incumbent, James McCutcheon, who was elected May 6th, 1884. 

Theodore H. Nevin was born 1815, and was first employed as a clerk in the 
drug store of Wm. Mackeown. In 1841 he established the white lead business in 
Allegheny City under the firm style of T H. Nevin & Co. He was prominently 
identified with the management of the Western State Penitentiary, as president of 
the board, and with the Western Theological Seminary, of which he was treasurer ; 
he was also prominent in many of the public enterprises of the day, and contribu- 
tor to many public charities and benevolent institutions. 

There have been but two cashiers, John P. Kramer, who died December, 1884, 
and was succeeded by the present cashier, E. R. Kramer. Total value of divi- 
dends paid, $915,500, book value of stock being $140 and market value $150, par 
value $100; surplus, $100,000. 

On December 31st, 1863, was incorporated the Tradesmens National Bank, at 
the corner of Wood street and Second avenue, with a capital of $400,000, $100 
per share. The first board of directors were Alexander Bradley, W. M. Faber, 
Jas. M. Knap, Jas. Frazier, David E. Park, W. H. Forsythe, Wm. F. McKee, 
Wm. Van Kirk, Samuel M. Kier. 

The first president was Alexander Bradley, who still continues in office. 

The first cashier was George Van Doren, who resigned and Avas succeeded by 
Cyrus Clarke, Jr., who was succeeded by Ross W. Drum, the present cashier, in 
January, 1883. 

The tota,l dividends paid since the organization of the bank is $840,000, the 
surplus fund $400,000, the market value of stock being $220. 

The Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce was organized in 1864, being in 
part the successor of the firm of Hill & Co., whose business the bank purchased 
previous to its organization. The first board of directors was J. T. Colvin, H. C. 
Frick, Chas. Lockhart, J. N. Anderson, J. W. Mellon, V/m. Pickersgill, Jr., 
Samuel S. Brown, J. W. Arrott, P. C. Knox. 

The first president was Alfred Patterson, on his death in 1878, Joseph H. Hill 
became president, and he was succeeded at his death, on August 16th, 1884, by J» 
T. Colvin. 



FINAJ^CIAL INSTITUTIONS. 267 

Joseph H. Hill the first cashier resigning to accept the presidency, was suc- 
ceeded by C. W. Wade, who still fills that office. 

This bank has a capital of $500,000, with a surplus of $400,000; par value of 
stock being $100 each, market value $204. In the 24 years of its existence this 
bank has paid dividends up to July 1st, of $997,500. 

The Peoples National Bank of Pittsburgh was organized December 8th, 1864, 
and began business the same date, with a capital of $1,000,000, the first banking 
house being at the corner of First and Wood streets, and the present banking 
house at No. 409 Wood street. The charter of this bank was extended in 1884. 
First board of directors : Samuel Rea, Barcley Preston, James I. Bennett, J. Brunot, 
B. F. Jones, B. H. Painter, George Black, John W. Chalfant, D. Kichey, George W. 
Plailman, P. C. Gray. The first president was Samuel Pea, who served from the 
date of the organization until he was succeeded by Barcley Preston, who was 
succeeded in 1887 by Pichard C. Grey, who served until 1888, when the present 
president, John W. Chalfant, succeeded him. 

Samuel Pea was born in Franklin county, near Chambersburg, in 1808-9. 
At the age of twenty-one or twenty-two he took charge of the Mount Alto Fur- 
nace, and subsequently became manager of Dr. Peter Shoenberger's Maria Forges- 
In 1837 he came to Pittsburgh and engaged in the canal transportation business, 
in what was known as the Union Line. While prosecuting this business he be- 
came engaged in the iron commission business, and also about the same time in 
the coal business. Subsequently, after the canal had been sold to the Pennsylva- 
nia Pailroad Company, he was elected secretary of the Citizens Insurance Com- 
pany, and on the death of Mr. Bagaley succeeded him in the presidency. This 
position he resigned to become the first president of the Peoples National Bank, 
and resigning that office, was subsequently elected, shortly before his death, the 
first treasurer of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. He died in 1881 or 1882. 

There have been only two cashiers, the first being F. M. Gordon, who was suc- 
ceeded on December 15th, 1883, by Thomas P. Day, who still continues to hold 
office. 

The par value of shares is $100 ; the surplus, $350,000 ; the total earnings above 
losses and expenses are $2,073,294.57 ; the total dividends being $1,680,000. 

On February 27th, 1864, was incorporated the Third National Bank of Pitts- 
burgh, which began business March 7th, 1864, at a temporary location, north-east 
corner of Wood street and Virgin alley. Its original capital was $300,000, which 
was increased on May 10th, 1864, to $400,000, and October 31, 1866, to $500,000. 

The first board of directors were Adam Peineman, Louis Morgenstern, F. H. 
Eaton, William E. Schmertz, Joseph Able, A. S. Bell, August Hartje, Charles 
Meyran, David Ritchie. 

The first president was Adam Peineman, until January 10th, 1865, when he 
was succeeded by W. E. Schmertz, who is still in office. 

The first cashier (p?'o tern.) was Robert C. Schmertz, who was succeeded on 
March 28th, 1864, by John B. Livingston, who resigned on January 16th, 1871, 
and was succeeded by William Steinmeyer, who is still in office. 



288 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Up to May, 1888, forty-eight semi-annual dividends have been paid since or- 
ganization, aggregating 237 per cent, on the capital, and amounting to $1,156,000. 
The surplus May, 1888, was $243,000. 

The Fourth National Bank of Pittsburgh was incorporated May 20th, 1864, 
beginning business May 24th, 1864, at their first banking house, on Market street, 
•between Third and Fourth. 

The first board Was James O'Connor, James M. Bailey, John M. Horner, D. 
M. Smith, John F. Herron, W. W. Ball, N. J. Bigley, William Vankirk, 
Thomas Smith. 

The first president was James O'Connor, who resigned June 14th, 1865, and 
was succeeded by Thomas Donnelly on June 14th, 1865, who for many years was 
;an attorney in the firm of Donnelly & Wills. He died April 15th, 1886, and was 
succeeded by the president now in office, James M. Bailey. 

Allen Dunn was elected cashier pro tern. May 9th, 1864, and on June 20th, 
1864, S. D. Herron was elected cashier. He resigned March 26th, 1865. Allen 
Dunn was subsequently appointed cashier. June 14th, 1865, Butler Ward was 
appointed cashier. He was succeeded by D. Leet Wilson, who was elected Janu- 
ary 17th, 1866, and took charge February 1st, 1866, and was succeeded by S. D. 
Herron, who was elected January 23d, 1868, taking charge February 20th, 1868, 
being still cashier. 

The total dividends paid amount to $529,000, the surplus being $61,568, with 
a capital of $300,000. 

The First National Bank of Birmingham was incorporated in 1865, and began 
business the same year in Pittsburgh, South Side. The present board of directors 
are H. Sellers McKee, Jos. Watson, A. B. Stevenson, Daniel McKee, Wm. B. 
Wolfe, Jas. Bahe, Daniel Berg, No information given as to first board of directors. 

Thos. McKee was first president and was succeeded successively by B. A. Wolfe, 
A. B. Stevenson, H. Sellers McKee, who is the present incumbent. The first 
cashier was B. A. Wolfe who was succeeded by the present cashier, John P. Beech. 

The capital of this bank is $100,000, with surplus of $100,000; par value being 
f 100, and market value $210. 

The Second National Bank of Allegheny commenced business April, 1865, and 
•lias a capital of $150,000. Its first board of directors was Nicholas Voegtly, Jr., 
X-auchlan Mcintosh, Hugh McNeil, Adolph Groetzinger, William Smith, Jacob 
Kopp, John Voegtly, Jr., James Lockhart, John Brown, Jr. 

John Brown, Jr., its first president, died August 30th, 1873, and was succeeded 
(by Jas. Lockhart, appointed to fill his place September 8th, 1873. He was suc- 
ceeded by J. N. Davidson, appointed January 10th, 1884, which office he still con- 
tinues to hold. J. N. Davidson was appointed cashier March 27th, 1865, continuing 
as such until appointed president January 10th, 1884. The present cashier, A. S. 
^Cameron, was appointed January 10th, 1884. 

The total amount of dividends paid to date is $375,000, the bank never having 
f)assed a dividend. The book value of this stock is $170, and market value $180» 
Surplus, $75,000, and profits amount to $29,000. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 269 

The Peoples Savings Bank of Pittsburgh was incorporated April 17, 1866, by 
Act of Legislature. The board of trustees was Hon. Thos. Mellon, Wm. H. Gormly, 
James Lippincott, George M. Petty, William A. Herron, William Eea, E. P. Jones, 
Thomas K. Petty, A. L. Pearson. , 

First office, (opened for subscriptions of stock,) No. 13 St. Clair street, and 
first banking house, No. 77 Fourth street, (now Fourth avenue.) The first presi- 
dent was Hon. Thos. Mellon, who resigned September 12, 1866 ; he was succeeded 
by James I. Bennett, who resigned Oct. 11th, 1866, and was succeeded by Henry- 
Lloyd, who remained in office until his death, February 12, 1879. Henry Lloyd 
was born in Huntington county. Pa., December 15th, 1817. He received a commori 
school education, and at an early age obtained a situation in the commission house 
of D. Leech & Co., where he continued for a number of years. In 1854, in asso- 
ciation with George Black, he purchased an interest in the Kensington Kolling^ 
Mills, and the works were put in operation under the style of Miller, Lloyd & 
Black. In 1857 Henry Lloyd and George Black bought out the other parties in 
interest, and the firm became Lloyd & Black. The firm passed through various 
changes noted in the chapter on the iron industries of the county. Mr. Lloyd 
was also president of the Pittsburgh Insurance Co., and, as previously noted, presi- 
dent of the Peoples Savings Bank. He was for years a director of the Merchants 
and Manufacturers Bank, also president of the Safe Deposit Co. In 1868 he was 
elected a member of the Councils of the city of Pittsburgh, and was re-elected for 
several terms. He was a trustee of the Western Theological Seminary, also of the 
Washington and Jefierson College, and a director of the American Sunday School 
Union. He was an eminently successful man, and died February 12, 1879, modest 
and unassuming in all the positions he filled, he steadily held the esteem and con^ 
fidence of his associates. He virtually built the Bellefield Presbyterian Church, 
giving the ground and $15,000 of the $20,000 that was required to build it. At 
all times generously but judiciously liberal, calls for any form of sufiering were 
never unheeded. In the memories of the business men of Allegheny county^ 
Henry Lloyd will ever have an honored place. Mr. Lloyd was succeeded by Wil- 
liam Eea, now the president of the institution. 

The first treasurer was Thos. K. Petty, who resigned September 10th, 1866. 

The first secretary was George M. Petty, who resigned September 12th, 1866» 
They were succeeded by Sidney F. Von Bonnhorst, who was elected secretary and 
treasurer September 12th, 1866, and remained in office until his death, July 23d, 
1887. He was succeeded by N. G. Von Bonnhorst, (son of Sidney F.,) who waa 
elected secretary and treasurer August 1st, 1887. 

Sidney Francis Von Bonnhorst was born at Hamilton Hall, Mifflin township, 
Allegheny county, September 17, 1814. He was a student at the Western Uni- 
versity. His first business employment was with John D. Davis, who carried on a 
commission business on Water street, as a clerk when about sixteen years of age. 
He left Mr. Davis to enter the employ of Henry F. Schweppe, a prominent Ger- 
man merchant of that period, and afterward was interested with McVay, Hanna 



1>70 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

A Co., in the forwarding business. Subsequently he was a partner with William. 
Eichbaum and with James R. Murphy in the wool business. Previous to this h*" 
was book keeper in the Branch Bank of the United States at Pittsburgh, and was 
made caghier of the branch at New Brighton, for the purpose of winding that 
branch up after the failure of the branch at Pittsburgh. About 1854 he was made 
secretary and treasurer of the Pittsburgh & Steubenville and also of the Chartiers 
Valley railroads which were at that time organized. In 1861 he was appointed 
portmaster at Pittsburgh by Abraham Lincoln, which office he held until early in 
1866. During 1866 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Peoples Savings 
Bank, and in 1867 was elected secretary and treasurer of the Pittsburgh Safe De- 
posit Company, which position he held until 1874 when he concentrated his time 
and energy on the business of the Peoples Saving Company. He was also manager 
of the Pittsburgh Clearing House for several years. 

The record is one of a busy life and of responsible duties performed with ardu- 
ous care. 

The capital stock of the bank is $300,000 and its surplus fund $105,000. It has 
declared dividends on its stock since its organization of $497,751.50. The par 
value of its stock is $100 a share, its book value $135, and its market value $160. 
The total deposits on July 31, 1888, were $1,638,573.43. 

Lawrence Bank was established in 1866 as the Lawrence Savings Bank, in 
which the subscribers began to pay in stock in the fall of 1865, at the rate of 25 
cents per share a week on 25 dollars shares. The bank opened for business on 
January 1st, 1866, when W. W. Young was elected as cashier and Samuel M. 
Kier president. The bank continued as an individual liability bank until Febru- 
ary, 1873, when it was incorporated as a State bank with a capital of $80,000, with 
W. W. Young as president, he having been elected to fill that office on November 
7th, 1870, which office he still continues to hold. 

At the time of its incorporation as a State- bank the par values of the shares 
were raised to $50. John Hoerr was elected cashier, which office he still holds. 
The total amount of dividends paid since organization as a State bank is $76,457.25. 
Par value being $50, market value $50, with a surplus of $50,000. 

The Pittsburgh Safe Deposit Company was chartered in January, 1867, with a 
capital of $250,000. It opened September 1st, 1869, Wm. Phillips being the first 
president, and on his death he was succeeded by Henry Lloyd, and on his death 
by A. Garrison. The first secretary was S. F. Von Bonnhorst, who resigning, in 
1874, was succeeded by Wm. Little, who on his death was succeeded by — Howe. 

The Workingmens Savings Bank is an individual liability bank, and was or- 
ganized March, 1869, and commenced business May 1st, 1869, at No. 230 Ohio 
street, Allegheny City, with a capital of $50,000, paid in installments through 
the first year. 

First board of directors: John Joseph Hermann, Charles B. Easley, G. Meyer, 
Fred. Kochendorfer, John S. Clark, J. P. Wacker, John Stephan, C. Klicker, G. 
P. Beilstein. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 271 

The first president was John J. Hermann, who, upon his resignation in 1877, 
was, succeeded by the present incumbent, John A. Hermann. 

The first cashier, James Wettach, served until 1872, when, resigning, he was 
succeeded by G. W. Walter, who resigned in 1879. C. W. Dahlinger succeeded 
him, and, resigning in 1883, was succeeded by the present cashier, John L. 
Buerkle. 

Total dividends, |78,000; surplus, $52,000; par value of stock, |50; and mar- 
ket value, $55. 

The Central Bank was organized in 1868, having succeeded to the business of 
Kramer & Eahm, bankers, all the members of that firm being now deceased. The 
bank was incorporated under the State laws in 1875. The present directors are 
Thomas Fawcett, Julius Adler, J. F. Denniston, James Wilson, P. H. Hacke, John 
E. Eidall, D. P. Eeighard, S. S. Holland, Frank P. Bell. 

Mr. Thomas Fawcett is president, having been such since its organization. 

Captain Madison Bailey, one of the pioneers in steamboating on Western 
waters, was the vice president until his death, in 1887. 

James W. Davitt was the first cashier. He died in 1876, and was succeeded by 
M. Hunnings, the present cashier. 

The capital stock is $100,000 ; present surplus, $30,000. It has paid in divi- 
dends $138,000. 

The Masonic Bank was incorporated May 8th; 1869; capital, $200,000. The 
first banking house was situated at 527 Smithfield street, having owned and occu- 
pied the building since. 

The first board of directors were C. W. Batchelor, G. C. Shidle, James Fuiley, 
John Chislett, W. F. Lang, Eobert Pitcairn, C. F. Wells. Alfred Slack, Wm. Scott. 

C. W. Batchelor was first president, and was succeeded in 1884 by G. C. Shidle, 
the present incumbent of the ofiice. 

George C. McLean was elected cashier at the first organization of the board of 
directors, which position he filled until his death, April 14th, 1880, when he was 
succeeded by his son, Charles B. McLean, the present cashier. 

The bank has paid in dividends since its organization $196,000 ; surplus and 
undivided profits, $56,000 ; the value of the stock is $62.50 per share ; market 
value, $55 per share. 

The banking house of T. Mellon & Sons was established by Thomas Mellon in 
1869, who associated with him his sons, under the above firm style. They opened 
for business at 145 (old No.) Smithfield street, where they continued until 1872, 
when what is known as Mellon's Building was completed, when the bank re- 
moved to it. 

The American Bank was organized in 1869 as an individual liability bank 
with a capital of $200,000. The first president was John Lloyd, on his death he 
was succeeded by Wm. Floyd, who had been the first cashier, and he was succeeded 
in the cashiership by Thos. Floyd. The bank closed its doors in 1887, and went 
into liquidation. 



272 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

The Enterprise Bank of Allegheny was organized in 1870, and is a savings- 
bank, whose capital is being paid up by installments. In 1886 there was paid up 
capital of over |72,000. Wm. Dilworth, Jr., was the first president. He was suc- 
ceeded by Thomas J. Graff. F. P. Holmes was the first cashier. He was succeeded 
by C. Steffen, Jr. ^ 

The International Bank of Pittsburgh was organized in 1870, at the corner of 
Liberty and Market streets, the stockholders being individually liable, and having 
a capital of $100,000 — authorized. It discontinued business in 1873, first paying^ 
all depositors in full. 

The first board of directors was John Watt, W. H. McPherson, S. E. McClean^ 
W. W. McGregor, Stephen Mercer, William Neeb, C. H. Love, Thomas Booth, J. 
C. Anderson, William McKee. 

The first president was John Watt, who was succeeded by W. H. McPherson» 
The cashier was F. E. Moore. 

Cause of discontinuance being the panic of 1873, making its business unprofit- 
able and there being so many banks in Pittsburgh, 

The Commercial Banking Company was organized February 21st, 1870, at the 
banking house, 92 Fourth avenue. Capital, 1200,000, with shares $50 each. W. 
H. Everson, president; W. C. Macrum, cashier; board of directors, W. H. Ever- 
son, Wm. O, Hughart, Jacob Klee, B. F. Wilson, John Lindsay, D. S. Macrum, A» 
H. English, Alexander Bates. 

This company was reorganized as the Marine National Bank, under the na- 
tional banking law, March 13th, 1875, and commenced business March 31st, 1875^ 
at the banking house, corner of Third avenue and Smithfield street, with a capital 
of $200,000, $100 per share; increased to $230,000 on April 23, 1883. 

The first board of directors was : W. H. Everson, president ; B. F. Wilson, 
vice president; W. C. Macrum, cashier; D. W. C. Bid well, Wm. Fraud, Andrew 
Fulton, E. B. Godfrey, Jacob Klee, E. A. Montooth, Lucius Osgood, Wm. W. 
O'Neil, John O. Phillips, J. D. Kisher and J. C. Sneathen. 

W. H. Everson, the first president, resigned July 7th, 1887, and was succeeded 
by Wm. W. O'Neil on the same date. 

The total dividends paid amount to $198,129.50, the surplus being $23,366, and 
the market value $102 per share. 

The Germania Savings Bank, of Pittsburgh, was organized at Pittsburgh in 
April, 1870. 

First directors were : C. Meyran, J. F. Havekotte, A. Steinmeyer, G. Schleiter, 
Adam Beineman, Jos. Abel, Jas. K. Kerr, C. Barchfeld, Jos. Morganstern. 

The president from the time of its organization has been C. Meyran. 

The first vice president was C. Barchfeld, who was succeeded in May, 1875, by 
Jos. Abel. 

C. M. Seibert was the first secretary and treasurer, and was succeeded on March 
1st, 1878, by Chas. Seibert. 

The firm has a capital of $150,000 and a surplus of $40,000. Number of de- 
positors, 2,800. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 273 

The German Savings and Deposit Bank, of Birmingham, was incorporated 
January 23d, 1871, and began business in their first banking house, 1407 Carson 
street, on March 4th, 1871, their capital being $70,000, afterwards increased to 
1100,000 July 28th, 1886. 

The first board of directors were: John P. Heisel, Chas. Foster, Bernard 
Krugh, Chas. Espy, J. Eitemiller, Geo. Engelking, Frederick Maul, J. Och, Adam 
France, L. Kishmeisen, Ernest Rohrkaste, Geo. N. Monro, R. S. Clark. 

The first president was John Heisel, who resigned, and was succeeded by Bern- 
ard Krugh in 1875, who was succeeded by John B. Lutz, the present president. 

The first cashier, E. J. Scholze, was elected January 1st, 1871, and resigned 
April 3d, 1885, when he was succeeded by the present cashier, J. F. Erny, May 
1st, 1888. 

They have paid dividends on the capital stock from 1872 of |85,534, and on 
that of July, 1886, $25,000, making a total of dividends paid of $110,534. 

Surplus, $70,000 ; book value of stock, $75 ; market value, no transfers. 

The Freehold Bank was originally incorporated under the laws of Pennsyl- 
vania as the Freehold Bank and Bailding Association, March 3rd, 1870, the capi« 
tal stock being $200,000. Par value of shares $50. 

The first board of directors was, — Edward House, James S. Craft, Thos. Steely 
Wm. Phillips, Robert W. Mackey, Jared M. Brush, Thos. W. Davis. 

The first president was Edward House, who still holds that office. The first 
treasurer and secretary was Thomas Steel, and J. P. Speer cashier. The title of 
the bank was subsequently changed to the Freehold Bank, the president and 
cashier remaining the same until 1878 when J. P. Speer being elected vice presi- 
dent, Louis Witmer was elected cashier. In 1884, John Steel was elected his 
successor. The bank has paid $186,000 of dividends since its organization. 

The Artizans Bank was organized in 1870 under the State laws with an author- 
ized capital of $300,000. Wm. H. Smith was its first president and Julius Fi 
Stark its first cashier, until it was discontinued, the depositors being paid off and 
the stock canceled. 

The United Bank was established in 1871. N. P. Sawyer was its first president, 
and Alex. Guthrie its first cashier. The capital was $200,000. Up to 1876 it had 
paid $30,000 of dividends, and had a surplus of $9,000. It became financially* 
embarrassed and passed into the hands of assignees. 

The Nations Bank for Savings was established in 1871, with a capital of 
$100,000. Arthur Hobson was its first president and E. M. Jenkins its first cashier. 
Mr. Hobson was subsequently succeeded by John A. Myler, and Mr. Jenkins by 
C. W. Benny. 

The West End Savings Bank was organized in 1871 with a capital of $100,000, 
payable in weekly intallments. Wm. H. Singer, president ; W. H. Wilson, cashier! 
which positions they still hold. 

The Fifth National Bank, of Pittsburgh, was organized October 1st, 1871, as 
the Farmers National Bank of Greensburg, Pa. By an Act of Congress, June 23,^ 

18 



274 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

1874, the name was changed to the Fifth National Bank of Pittsburgh, and by 
the same authorized to remove to Pittsburgh, Pa., which was done March 3d, 1875. 

First board of directors was : Eobert Arthurs, P. H. Allison, Kalph Bagaley, 
Addison Arthurs, Jesse H. Lippincott, Geo. W. Huff, James C. Clark, John Lloyd, 
Bichard Coulter. 

The first president was Robert Arthurs, who still fills the office. 

The first cashier, L. Halsey Williams, resigned April 1st, 1886, and was suc- 
ceeded by the present cashier, A. C. Knox. 

The gross dividends paid since commencing business in Pittsburgh is $92,000 ; 
the capital stock, $100,000; surplus, $20,000. 

The Arsenal Bank was organized in 1871, with a capital of $150,000. John 
W. Riddell was its first president. He was succeeded by S. J. Wainwright. Its 
first cashier was C. L. Staub, who was succeeded by W. S. Williams. 

The Farmers and Mechanics Bank of East Birmingham was organized in 1872. 
It carried on business as a trust company for four years from 1868. It began with 
a capital of $100,000 with privilege to increase to $500,000. Present capital is 
$130,000. 

George Duncan was first president, and when he died was succeeded by James 
McMurtry. At his death Abijah Hays, Jr., became president, who resigned being 
too old to longer fill the office and was succeeded by C. J. Schultz. He resigned 

and was succeeded by McGary, when he died he was succeeded by John 

Henry Sorg, who is now president. 

Henry F. Voight was cashier at the organization of the firm in 1868 and con- 
tinued until March 1st, 1888, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Herman 
J. Barg. No information could be obtained as to first board of directors, dividends 
or surplus. In 1886 the bank had paid to that date $145,000 of dividends and had 
$15,000 surplus. 

- On March 5th, 1872, the Iron and Glass Dollar Savings Bank was incorporated 
which began business as a private bank February 13th, 1871. Its first banking 
house was at 1203 Carson street. Capital stock $100,000 

First directors were, — Thomas B. Atterbury, John Gallagher, Jas. H. Swett, 
Joseph Keeling, William Doyle, W. J. Levis, Daniel Wenke, Edward Moye, F. 
Baxmeyer. 

The first president was Thomas B. Atterbury and the first cashier was Henry 
Stamm, which two oflScers continue in ofllce to the present day. 

The amount of the total dividends paid is $122,500, the par value of stock is 
$100 per share and the market value is $140. 

The Odd Fellows Savings Bank, of Pittsburgh, was chartered by the legislature 
March, 1872, and began business at No. 63 Fourth avenue, in which location they 
still are, having a capital stock of $100,000. 

The first board of directors was, — Henry Lambert, Edward Duff, John Seiferth, 
A. M. Brown, G. W. Schmidt, Andrew Miller, William Nelson, H. A. Weaver, 
S. J. Wainwright, D. P. Estep, G. W. Rankin. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 275 

The first president was Henry Lambert, who was, at his death, succeeded by 
Andrew Miller, who still continues in office. 

The first cashier was W. J. Scully who continued in office until 1874, when he 
was succeeded by Samuel C. Applegate, who was succeeded, in 1878, by Frank E, 
Moore, the present cashier. 

The total dividends paid since the organization is |108,000. Surplus $60,000. 

In 1872 the Keal Estate Loan and Trust Co. was organized and began the bank- 
ing business on Ohio street, Allegheny City, March 1st, 1873, with a capital of 
f73,000. 

The first president, C. L. Straub, resigned and was succeeded by Charles Hier- 
holzer, upon the death of whom the present president, G-. Meyer, was elected 
The present cashier is C. Schauer, Jr. No further information obtained. 

The Shoe and Leather Bank was organized under a State charter in 1872, with 
a, capital of $200,000, Geo. H. Anderson being its first president, and John D. 
Frazier its first cashier. D. E,. Davidson succeeded Geo. H. Anderson in the 
presidency. The bank wentpnto liquidation about 1880-1. 

The Monongahela Savings Bank was organized in 1872 with a capital of 
$100,000. Wm. Douglass was its first president, who was subsequently succeeded 
by Henry A. Weaver. E. T. Hunt was its first and only cashier. Its place of 
business was at the corner of Fourth and Smithfield. 

The bank not being profitable the depositors were paid off^ and the bank closed. 

The Liberty Improvement Bank was organized in 1872 with a capital of 
$100,000. A. H. Gross was its first president, O. F. Parker its first cashier, who 
was succeeded by A. M. Thorn. This bank was ultimately merged into the City 
Deposit Bank, of which Thomas Brown is now president, and H. C. McFarland, 
cashier. 

The^Bank of Industry was organized in 1872, with a capital of $100,000. Its 
place of business was for some years at the corner of Fifth avenue and Scrip alley. 
M. Hastings was its first president and M. Hanrahan its first cashier. Mr. Hast- 
ings was succeeded in the presidency by James McLain, Mr. Hanrahan remaining 
cashier until the bank was ultimately closed out by dissolution, it being a semi- 
savings bank and was not found profitable. 

The Market Bank was a small institution, organized in 1873, which had its 
office in the south-east corner of the Diamond Square, of which Thos. H. Hunter 
was the first cashier. He was succeeded by George Petty. It was not successful, 
and was wound up after some two or three years' struggling existence. Jacob H. 
Walter was its first president, and was succeeded by Joseph H. Gray. ^ 

The Penn Bank was organized in 1873, with a capital of $75,000, as a State bank, 
and had its place of business on Wood street, near Fourth avenue, Jas. H. Hopkins 
being its first president and Wm. N. Riddle its first and only cashier. Its capital 
was subsequently increased to $250,000, and its place of business removed to the 

corner of Liberty and Wood streets. In James H. Hopkins resigned the 

presidency, and Wm. N. Eiddle succeeded him. In 1884 the bank failed from 



276 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

speculative investments of its funds by the president, and the bank passed into the 
hands of Henry Warner, assignee. 

The Anchor Savings Bank of Pittsburgh was incorporated 1st of April, 1873,. 
and began business April 30th, 1873, with capital to be $100,000, paid in by in- 
stallments. The first banking house was on Wylie avenue, afterwards removed tO' 
135 Fifth avenue, now 134 Fifth avenue. 

Began as an individual bank. July 18th, 1877, became a State bank under the 
laws of Pennsylvania. 

First president was A. M. Brown, who still continues in office. The first cashier 
was Jas. H. Scott, who served until June 1st, 1875, when K. J. Stoney, the present 
cashier, succeeded him. 

It has a fully paid up capital of |50,000, paying 4 per cent dividends and hav- 
ing a contingent fund of $18,500 in addition to $7,770 earning up to August, 1888» 

On March 16th, 1875, was chartered the Third National Bank of Allegheny, 
with a capital of $200,000, which commenced business April 1st, 1875. The 
first banking house was located at 140 Federal street, but in 1879 purchased and 
removed to the banking house 101 Federal street, formerly occupied by the old 
Allegheny Savings Bank, refitting the same. 

The first board of directors was Jonathan Gallager, Addison Lysle, John Dean, 
John Megraw, John Heichenroether, James Morgan, John Kirkpatrick, Alexan- 
der Patterson, Robt. Taggart, Henry Cordier, N. H. Yoegtly. 

The first president was Jonathan Gallager ; first vice president, Addison Lysle. 
Jonathan Gallager resigned July 9th, 1877, and was succeeded by the Hon. Hugh 
S. Fleming, who continued in office until his death, July 5th, 1887, when he was 
succeeded by the vice president W. M. McKelvey, his place being then filled by 
E. H. Boggs. 

Hugh Fleming was born in Ross township, Allegheny county, now the Third 
ward, Allegheny city, March 26, 1820. In 1835 he entered the drug store of H. 
P. Schwartz, continuing in that business until 1839. He took an active part in 
politics and was elected to Common Councils, from the Third ward, in 1841, 1842» 
and 1859. In 1852 he was elected on the Whig ticket County Treasurer. In 
1861 he recruited Company K., of the 38th regiment, (9th Pennsylvania Reserves,) 
was mustered into service May 4th, 1861, and commissioned captain, resigning 
June 27th on account of impaired health. In 1870 he was elected Sheriff" of the 
county on the Republican ticket. In 1872 he was chosen Mayor of Allegheny 
city. In 1877 he was elected president of the Third National Bank of Allegheny, 
which office he held at the time of his death. 

The first cashier, W. A. Clemens, resigned July 1st, 1875, and was succeeded by 
the present cashier, H. A. Spangler. This bank has a surplus of $50,000, and un- 
divided profits of $44,000. 

The German National Bank, of Allegheny, Pa., was chartered May 17th, 1875, 
and began business June 1st, 1875, at 266 Ohio street, Allegheny, Pa., with a cap- 
ital of $200,000. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 277 

First board of directors was : A. Wiese, Joseph Laatner, Jacob Kopp, C. M. 
Anshutz, Hugh McNeill, L. Walter, Sr., Damas Lutz, G. Faas and John A. 
Herman. 

Adam Weise was the president of the bank from the time of its organization 
!up to the time of his death, March 27th, 1887, when he was succeeded by L. 
Walter, Sr., who is president now. 

Joseph Stratman has been cashier since the time of the organization of the bank. 

The amount of dividends paid is |124,130.68 ; shares, |100 each ; book value 
of stock, $143 ; last sales, $126.50 ; surplus and undivided profits, $86,000. 

The City Savings Bank was incorporated in 1876, and began business at the 
same date. 

The first president was Dominick Ihmsen, who was succeeded by John Eogers, 
and he by James Gallery, the present president. 

The first and present cashier is John W. Taylor. 

The capital of this bank is $100,000, there being 2,000 shares, and a surplus of 
^18,000, the amount of deposits being about $475,000. 

The Duquesne National Bank was chartered in May, 1875. This bank was 
•originally the Coal Men's Trust Company, organized in 1865, with A. J. Barker 
as president, and Wm. Douglass, treasurer, the capital, $100,000, being paid in by 
installments. It began business at 409 Smithfield street. May 19th, 1867, E. J. 
Hoberts was elected cashier. A. J. Barker resigning the presidency, William J. 
Anderson was elected his successor. Subsequently the title of the bank was 
•changed to the Duquesne Bank. Wm. J. Anderson dying, Wm. G. Johnston, the 
present president, was elected his successor. On June 1st, 1870, E. J. Roberts re- 
■signed the cashiership, and A. H. Patterson was elected his successor. In 1875 
the bank was organized under the National Banking Act, with a capital of 
^200,000, the par value of the shares being $100. The bank has paid in divi- 
dends since its organization as a National Bank $136,000, and has a surplus of 
$75,000. The book value of the stock is $140, and the market value $131. 

The Metropolitan National Bank was organized in 1875, with a capital of 
$200,000. Its first president was C. A. Dravo. He was succeeded by D. R. Mc- 
Intire, and he by John Kunnett. The first cashier was W. H. Smith. He was 
succeeded by C, A. Dravo, and he by George Seebick. 

The Diamond National Bank was organized April, 1875, and began business 
in April, 1875, at the corner of Fifth avenue and Union streets, with a capital of 
-$200,000 ; par value of shares, $100. 

The first board of directors was : A. Garrison, Wm. M. Hersh, J. W. Carnahan, 
A. L. Robinson, Simon Brahm, Joseph Fleming, Jas. Nimick, A. N. Miller, Adam 
Oetty. 

The first president was A. Garrison, who still continues in office. The first 
■cashier was John S. Scully, and he has continued in that position. 

The dividends paid since organization is $157,000, and the bank has a surplus 
«9f $105,000. Book value of the stock is $153, and its market value $151. 



278 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

March 6th, 1879, the Fort Pitt National Banking Company was organized^ 
commencing business March 17th, 1879, at 79 Fourth avenue, with a capital of 
$200,000. This bank was the successor of the Fort Pitt Banking Company, which 
was organized January 8th, 1868, with a capital of |200,000, the president being 
Samuel McClurkan ; cashier, D. Leet Wilson. 

The first board of directors was: David Hostetter, Jas. Gordon, John C 
Eisher, E. Fawcett, Kobert H. King, Daniel Wallace, Andrew Miller, James M.- 
Bailey. 

Its place of business was 169 Wood street, and it paid dividends until it was 
aborbed by the Fort Pitt National Bank of |202,425. 

Samuel McClurkan died February 26th, 1878, and was succeeded by David 
Hostetter. 

Samuel McClurkan was born in 1803 in the then village of Pittsburgh, near 
where the Adams Express building now stands, on Fifth avenue, and removed 
with his father to Noblestown. In 1830 he returned to Pittsburgh, and was a 
clerk at the Eagle Hotel, on Liberty street. He soon after became a clerk with 
James McCully. Subsequently he engaged in the coal business with John Eiley. 
About 1840 he entered the employ of Dalzell & Fleming, wholesale grocers. In 
1843, Mr, Fleming removing to Philadelphia, the style of the firm became Samuel 
McClurkan & Co. In 1850 embarrassments of Mr. Fleming in the east involved 
the firm of Samuel McClurkan & Co. and caused their suspension, but every lia- 
bility was subsequently paid. In the fall of 1851, the Citizens Savings Bank hav- 
ing been organized, Mr. McClurkan accepted the cashiership. In 1854 hi& 
mercantile instincts rose uppermost, and associating with him Allen Kirkpatrick 
and John F. Herron, they organized a firm under the style of McClurkan, Herron 
& Co., to prosecute the grocery business. In 1865 he sold his interest in the firm, 
and turned his attention to the insurance business, being a charter member of the 
Cash Insurance Company, and also of the Pittsburgh Insurance Company, of 
which he was for a period the president. At an age when most men would have 
hesitated about engaging in new enterprises he organized the Fort Pitt Bankins: 
Company, as already stated, in the presidency of which he died. ^This is a brief 
record of a busy and finally successful life, where commercial integrity and moral 
principles in all the paths of life were the guiding lights. 

On the organization of the Fort Pitt National Bank the president and cashier 
of the Fort Pitt Banking Company, David Hostetter and D. Leet Wilson, were re- 
tained, and the following board of directors entered on their duties : D. Hostetter^, 
John B. Dunlevy, John C. Risher, Samuel Ewert, Allen Kirkpatrick, Eobert H. 
King, Patrick McCullough, Daniel Wallace, James M. Bailey. 

Since its organization as a National Bank it has paid $108,000 of dividends^ 
has undivided profits on July 1st of |55,320,'and a surplus of $100,000. 

The Commercial National Bank was established June, 1882, with authorized 
capital of $500,000 ; a paid up capital of $300,000. Their banking house was at 
97 Fourth avenue. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 279 

The first board of directors was: M. W. Kankin, Wm. H, Smith, Josiah King, 
D. E. Davidson, D. M. Smith, John W. Herron, Jacob S. Keymer, S. S. Marvin, 
Joseph H. Borland. 

The first president was M. W. Eankin, who still holds that office. 

The first cashier was John D. Frazier. On his resignation H. W. Bickell suc- 
ceeded him, June, 1885. During the six years of its organization the bank has 
paid dividends to the amount of $69,000, and have a surplus of |18,000. 

The Keystone Bank was organized under the State laws in 1884, with a capital 
of $300,000. J. J. Vandergrift was the first president and A. B. Davitt the first 
cashier, which offices they still hold. 

The Monongahela Bank was organized in 1888, with a capital of $000,000. 
Thomas Jamison was elected president and John D. Frazier cashier. 

The Nation Trust Company, which was originally the National Trust Com- 
pany, was organized about 1868-70. Eobert Dickson was its president, and Eobert 
Greer its cashier. The bank was a co-partnership, or individual bank. In 1873-4 
it collapsed, and brought financial disaster to many business men and suffering to 
private individuals — another instance of speculative investments of the funds of 
the bank by its fiduciary agents and over-confidence in its directors in the officers 
of the institution. 

The Western Bank, which was established in 1850, was subsequently organ- 
ized as the Commercial Bank, in 1856. Thompson Bell, president ; David Eobin- 
son, cashier. Mr. Eobinson subsequently resigned, and organized, in 1863, the 
banking firm of Eobinson Bros., which still continues in business. The Commer- 
cial Bank ultimately became a private banking house, under the style of Thompson 
Bell & Co., which firm was carried on until the death of Thompson Bell, in 1886-7, 
when it ceased to exist, Mr. Bell owning about all of its financial interests. 

The First National Bank of Braddock was organized in 1882, with a capital 
of $75,000, with Jesse Lippencott as president and W. W. Watt as cashier. 

The Braddock National Bank was organized in 1882, with a capital of $100,000, 
with Eobert E. Stewart as president and John G. Kelly as cashier. 

The Farmers Deposit Bank of Sharpsburg was organized in 1879, with a capi- 
tal of $50,000, at which time George A. Chalfant was president and Eobert M. 
Coyle cashier. 

The banking house of W. E. Thompson & Co. originated with the firm of 
Semple & Jones, established in 1859, (John B. Semple, John B. Jones). On the 
death of John B. Semple his son, Frank Semple, succeeded to his interest, the 
firm style remaining unchanged until 1881, when John B. Jones, the surviving 
partner of the original firm, sold his interest to Wm. E. Thompson, formerly 
president of the Mechanics National Bank, and the firm style was changed to 
Semple & Thompson, and has since become W. E. Thompson & Co. 

There were other banking institutions, whicli have not only ceased to be, but 
their memories are so lost that no reliable account of their existence or officers 
can be gathered. The record that is here given has been difficult to obtain. 



280 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

There are, no doubt, omissions and also errors, but they must be attributed, in 
many cases, to the indifference of those who should be most interested, and pro- 
crastination in others to furnish the information necessary until the hour, almost, 
of the forms going to press. 

The record tells its own story, so far as the narrative goes, of the progress in 
Allegheny county in what is technically styled the banking business. The amount 
of dividends paid in the eighty-five years embraced is, uncertain as it is, an im- 
mense sum. 

The earnings of the banks during the war period and for a number of years 
after was much larger in proportion to the volume of business than at present. In 
those days it was profitable to have circulation, and the National banks took out 
all the law permitted, whereas, now it does not pay to purchase bonds at the high 
premium necessary to pay the Government for the- circulation. The most of the 
New York banks have reduced their circulation to a minimum, i. e., a deposit of 
150,000 of bonus for $45,000 of circulation. The rates of interest on Governmental 
bonds during the war was 7. 30 and 6 per cent, and the interest was paid in gold 
and this was sold at times at a premium as high as 100 per cent. The high rates 
of interest paid by the government compelled private borrowers to pay even high- 
er rates and it was not uncommon for good paper to be discounted at from 9 to 10 
per cent. While the rates of interest on bonds and on discount is much less than 
before, the volume of business done by the banks is so much greater that the earn- 
ings are kept up. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 
Insurance Companies. 

The first insurance issued by a home company in Allegheny county was by the 
Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company, in 1810, to William Wilkins, on his home 
where the Monongahela House now stands, that company being chartered as a 
banking and insurance company. 

On the 1st of January, 1845, there were four solvent fire insurance companies 
in Pittsburgh. On the close of April 10th, 1845, there was but one, the great fire 
bankrupting the other three. The four were the Firemans, of which John D. 
Davis was president, and Samuel Gormley secretary ; The Penn, of which Josiah 
King was president, and John Finney secretary ; The Navigation, of which Michael 
Allen was president, and James S. Craft secretary; The Allegheny Mutual, of 
which Samuel R. Johnston was president, and John Robinson Secretary. Of these 
the Navigation, which had a capital of $200,000, escaped ruin by the great fire. 
Its capital was largely impaired, but it paid its losses and continued business on 
$80,000 of capital, and was merged in the Western in 1849. 

The Citizens Insurance Company was organized March 7th, 1849, with a capi* 
tal of $100,000, par value of stock $50 per share. The first board of directors was 



INSURANCE COMPANIES. 281 

"Wm. Larimer, Jr., Robt. Woods, Wm. B. McClure, Joseph Plummer, Samuel Kier, 
Josiah King, John Sheriff, Alex. Roseburg, H. D. King. The first president was 

C. G. Hussey, who was succeeded by H. D. King, December, 1852, and he by Wm. 
Bagaley, December, 1854, and he by Samuel Rea in 1875, and he by Wm. G. John- 
ston, who is now president. A. M. Marks the first secretary, was succeeded Decem- 
ber, 1851, by Samuel L. Marshall, and he, in 1860, by Samuel Rea, and he, in 1864, 
by W. A, Shepard, and he, in 1871, by John Rea, and he by Walter Morris, in 
1875, and he by James Ross Snively, October 1st, 1887. Total cash dividends paid 
from organization, $679,000. Total losses paid, $1,246,000. The capital was in- 
creased subsequently to $500,000. 

The Western Insurance Company was organized in 1849, with an authorized 
■capital of $300,000, but $225,000 of it was subscribed. In November, 1884, the 
remainder of the stock was issued. The first board of directors was 

The first president was Rueben Miller, Jr., who served until December, 1855, 
when he resigned to accept the presidency of the Mechanics Bank. He was suc- 
ceeded at that date by George Darsie, who died in May, 1861, but had resigned 
previously. He was succeeded by Reuben Miller, Jr., who served his second term 
until June, 1865, when he resigned and Alex. Nimick succeeded him and has con- 
tinued in office ever since. 

John Finney, Jr., was the first secretary, he served about one year when, he 
dying, Frank Gordon was elected his successor in 1850. He served until May, 
1865, when he resigned to become the cashier of the Peoples National Bank, and 
on June 4tli, 1865, Capt. W. P. Herbert was elected to succeed him. Capt. Her- 
bert began his service in the company as an errand boy in 1854. In 1862 he en- 
listed in the three year service, and while in it was elected the secretary as above. 
The gross assets of the company are $447,011.33. In thirty-nine years it has paid 
seventy-two dividends amounting to $1,014,250, and losses to the amount of 
$1,379,881.15. 

The Allegheny Insurance Company was incorporated January 27th, 1854, and 
began business April 4th, 1859, with a capital of $100,000 ; par value of shares, 
$50. The first president was Isaac Jones, who was succeeded by John Irwin Jan- 
uary 1st, 1866, and served until January, 1880, when he declined re-election, and 
was succeeded by Capt. Geo. W. Cochran, who served until January, 1887, when 
declining a re-election, he was succeeded by Chas. Hays, who is now president. 

D. M. Book, the first secretary served until January, 1886, when he was succeeded 
by C. G. Donnell, who has filled that oflace since. The first vice president, John 
D. McCord, served until January, 1869, when he moved to Philadelphia, and was 
succeeded by Thos. J. Hoskinson, he serving until 1873, when he also moved to 
Philadelphia, and was succeeded by James D. McCord, who now holds that office. 
The total dividends paid by the company since its organization is $189,000, the 
total losses, $508,000. Its surplus is $52,000. Book value of its stock, $75, market 
value, $56. 

The Monongahela Insurance Company was organized 1854 with an authorized 
capital of $500,000, its place of business was at 98 Water street. James A. Hutch- 



282 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

inson was its first president, and Henry M. Atwood its first secretary. James A. 
Hutchinson resigned April 2d, 1867, and was succeeded by Wm. A. Colwell, who 
has continued in office ever since. Henry M. Atwood resigned as secretary July 
1st, 1863, and was succeeded by Henderson E. Davis, who resigned May 21st, 1864, 
and was succeeded by J. H. Claney, who has continued in that oflace. The com- 
pany has paid dividends since its organization to the amount of |433,435. and paid 
losses to the amount of $541,304. Its capital stock paid up is $175,000, and surplus 
$30,000. Par value of stock, $50. 

The Pittsburgh Insurance Company was incorporated February 10th, 1851, as 
the Pittsburgh Life Insurance Company. The incorporators and first board of 
directors were James S. Hoon, Sam'l McClurkan, John S. Dilworth, Jos. S. Leech, 
Chas. A. Colton, Wm. Phillips, John A. Wilson. James S. Hoon was elected 
president, Sam'l McClurkan vice president and Chas. A. Colton secretary. On 
March 27th, 1854, the title was changed to the Pittsburgh Life, Fire and Marine 
Insurance Company. On February 18th, 1859, the name was again changed to 
the Pittsburgh Insurance Company. February 14th, 1855, Robt. Galway succeed- 
ed James S. Hoon, the first president, and he by James W. Hailman February 9thy 
1860, and he by George Black February 11th, 1861, and he by Henry Lloyd Feb- 
ruary 5th, 1873, and he by Chas. Arbuthnot February 30th, 1880, who is the pres- 
ent president. On February 14th, 1855, Sam'l McClurkan, the first vice presidents 
was succeeded by John Alpin, he was succeeded February 7th, 1856, by Chas. 
Arbuthnot, and he by Alexander Bradley February 6th, 1858, and he by Chas. W. 
Batchelor February 9th, 1860, and he by Sam'l McClurkan February 11th, 1868, 
and he by James Gordon February 14th, 1872, and he by John Fullerton Febru- 
ary 1st, 1887. Chas. A. Colton, the first secretary, was succeeded February 14th, 
1855, by Jas. D. McGill, and he on February 7th, 1856, by Thos. Graham, and he 
by F. A. Rinehart February 6th, 1858, and he by J. B. Livingston August 8d, 
1863, and he by James Collard April 5th, 1864, and he by W. B. Neeper February 
8th, 1867, and he by D. C. Hultz February 11th, 1868, and he by Hillis McKowan 
March 24th, 1873, who has continued to fill the office since. Only $10 per share 
was paid by the subscribers on account of the stock when the company was organ- 
ized, the total cash paid by stockholders being $20,000, the balance being secured 
by stock notes which were paid by stock dividends. The present cash capital is 
$100,000. Assets, $274,278.15. Net surplus over capital stock, reinsurance and all 
other liabilities, $157,370.29. Par value of stock, $50 per fchare. Market value of 
stock, $125 per share. Losses paid since organization, $736,956.12. Dividends, 
$568,000. 

The German Fire Insurance Company was incorporated March, 1862, and be- 
gan business July 1st, 1862, on Liberty avenue, near Sixth, (now 640) with capi- 
tal of $100,000. Par value of stock $25. Clemenc Hoeveler was the first presi- 
dent and F. L. Gross the first secretary, which office he still holds. Mr. Hoeveler 
resigned in December, 1877, and was succeeded by C. Barchfield, who is now presi- 
dent. In 1877 the capital was increased to $200,000 and the shares to $50 par 



INS URANCE COMPANIES. 283 

value. The company has a surplus of 182,166.37, and have made dividends to the 
amount of |632,000 and losses to the amount of $1,071,718.55. The book value of 
the stock is $72. 

The Peoples Insurance Company was organized and began business June lOth^ 
1862, with an authorized capital of $100,000 and a paid up cash capital of $50,000. 
In January the capital stock was increased to $200,000. The first board of direc- 
tors was Wm. Phillips, John Watt, Wm. Vankirk, John E. Parke, Capt. John 
L. Ehoads, Geo. B. Jones, Frank VanGorder, Wm. B. Hays, James D. Verner^ 
Chas. S. Bissell, C. Hanson Love and Sam'l P. Shriver. The first president was 
Wm. Phillips, who resigned January, 1872, and was succeeded by John Watt, who 
served until January, 1874, when James Herdman was elected his successor and 
who is still president. Wm. F. Gardner has been secretary and treasurer from 
the date of the organization of the company. Capt. James Gordon was general 
agent for the company from 1865 to 1869, when he was succeeded by George M> 
Alexander, Avho served from 1875 to the present time. Wm. A. McCutcheon was 
elected assistant secretary January, 1884. Dividends paid since organization 
$294,000. Losses paid, $1,120,751.91. 

The Cash Insurance Company was organized May 22d, 1865, and began busi- 
ness June 1st, 1865, at 59 Fourth avenue, with a paid up capital of $100,000. The 
first president was Isaac M. Pennock, who resigned January 9th, 1866, and was^ 
succeeded by Kobert H. King, which office he still fills. The first secretary wa& 
Thomas Graham, who resigned January 9th, 1865, and was succeeded by Joseph 
T. Johnston, who has continued in the office of secretary to this time. The com- 
pany have paid $232,000 of dividends since its organization,''and losses to the 
amount of $230,000. The par value of its stock is $50, its book value $81.50, and 
its market sales at $52. 

The Manufacturers and Merchants Fire and Marine Insurance Company wa& 
incorporated February 28th, 1865, and began business May 1st, 1865, at 87 Wood 
street, with a capital of $250,000, shares of $50 each. The first president was 
James I. Bennett; John W. Chalfant, vice president; W. P. Jones, secretary, who- 
died August 22d, 1871, and was succeeded by A. E. W. Painter, who was appointed 
secretary jpro tern, until January 1st, 1872, when James A. Kenney was elected 
secretary. Mr. Kenney resigned March 18th, 1885, and was succeeded by John 
P. Henry, who resigned March 15tli, 1887, and was succeeded by Wm. T. Adair. 
On August 14th, 1871, August Ammon was elected general manager, which office 
he still holds. The company has paid dividends to the amount of $537,500, and 
losses to the amount of $708,000. The book value of its stock is $58, and it has a 
surplus of $40,876.81. 

The Boatman's Fire and Marine Insurance Company was organized March 
20th, 1865, with a capital stock of $250,000 ; par value of stock, $50. K. C. Grey 
was the first president, and was succeeded by Jas. E. Hutchinson January 12thy. 
1875. He resigned September 1st, 1880, and January 11th, 1881, O. P. Scaife, the 
present president, was elected. David E. Park was the first vice president. He 



284 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

resigned December 8th, 1873, and was succeeded December 8th, 1873, by Wm. H. 
Forsythe, who died November 1st, 1874, and January 12th, 1875, Oliver P. Scaife 
was elected to succeed Mr. Forsythe, holding that office until January 11th, 1881, 
when he was elected president. Jas. H. Sewell was, on January 11th, 1881, elected 
to succeed Mr. Scaife. Mr. Sewell died August 4th, 1885, and on January 12th, 
1886, John A. Caughey, the present vice president, was elected. Robert Finney 
was the first secretary and treasurer, and served until about November 20th, 1873. 
On December 3d, 1873, Earl S. Gardner was elected secretary, and on April 1st, 
1884, he was succeeded by the present secretary, H. H. Schenck. On April 1st, 

1884, Henry F. Weaver, who had been with the company as bookkeeper since 
January 23d, 1872, was elected treasurer. Dividends paid since organization, 
1332,107.50 ; total losses paid by the company, 11,236,108.13. 

The Artizan Insurance Company was organized March, 1866, with a capital of 
$100,000, the par value of the shares being $50. It began business July, 1866. 
Wm. H. Smith was the first president, and J. Gardner Coffin the first secretary. 
John Dunlap, vice president, in which office he still continues. In March, 1885> 
Wm. H. Smith died, and was succeeded by Albert J. Barr, who now fills that of- 
fice. J. Gardner Coffin resigned as secretary December 5th, 1871, when he was 
succeeded by Albert J. Barr, who continued to hold the office until he succeeded 
Mr. Smith in the presidency, when Chas. P. Smith was elected secretary May 5th, 

1885. The company have paid since its organization |198,000 of dividends, and 
losses to the amount of $260,376 ; surplus, $13,453. The book value of its stock 
is about $58. There has been none of its stock for sale for years. 

The Ben Franklin Insurance Company was incorporated February 9th, 1866, 
;and began business June 26th. The present president is John Ogden ; the secre- 
tary, W. A. Ford. Its cash capital is $150,000, and its surplus $15,217.03. It has 
paid losses to the amount of $387,936.32, and cash dividends of $100,301, and stock 
dividends to the amount of $40,000. 

The Allemania Insurance Company was incorporated in 1868, and began busi- 
ness July, 1868, on Fifth avenue. Eobert C. Schmertz was the first president, 
which office he held until his death, in April, 1888, when Joseph Abel was elect- 
-ed president. Charles F. Herrosee was its first secretary, and still continues to 
hold that office. The cash capital of the company is $200,000. It has paid divi- 
dends to the amount of $260,000 and losses to the amount of $1,714,603. 

The City Insurance Company was organized in 1870, and began business De- 
cember 15th, 1870, at 64 Fourth avenue. Robert J. Anderson was the first presi- 
dent, and is so to the present time. John R. Gloninger was the first secretary, 
^nd Captain R. J. Grace the first vice president, and William Barker treasurer. 
Captain Grace died July 22d, 1885, and was succeeded by John R. Gloninger, be- 
ing succeeded in the secretaryship by J. F. Lauker, which office he still holds. 
Mr. Gloninger being killed in an accident on a railroad on November 1st, 1887, 
he was succeeded by James Phelan. The company has paid dividends to the 
amount of $105,000 ; losses to the amount of $645,000. The book value of its 
stock is $54, and its market value 



INSUEANCE COMPANIES. 285 

The Union Insurance Company was incorporated February 10, 1871, with a 
capital of |100,000, par value of shares being $50. They began business May 1st, 

1871, at 75 Smithfield street. James N. Hopkins was the first president, and J. 
W. J. McLain the first secretary, and George Ogden as general agent, which oflaces 
they still hold. James N. Hopkins resigned in 1880, and was succeeded by J. T, 
Colvin, who resigned in 1883, and was succeeded by Andrew Mellon. The com- 
pany has paid |82,960.60 dividends, with a surplus of $21,537.21, and losses to 
the amount of $868,121.86. The book value of the stock is $60.75; market 
value, $47.50. 

The Teutonia Insurance Company was incorporated July 8th, 1871, and began 
business July 18th, with a cash capital of $125,000. The present president is 
Henry Gerwig, and C. W. Young, secretary. To January 1st, 1888, the company 
had paid $87,805.22 cash dividends, and made stock dividends to the amount of 
$62,500, with a surplus of $52,809.20. They have paid losses to the amount of 
$114,382.29. 

The Humboldt Insurance Company was incorporated November 18th, 1871^ 
and began business November 23d. The present president is P. J. Urling ; A. H. 
Trimble, secretary. They have a cash capital of $100,000, and a surplus of 
$2,417.22. They have paid losses to the amount of $151,348.38, cash dividends of 
$44,192.88, and stock dividends to the amount of $23,202.65. 

The Birmingham Insurance Company was incorporated May 17th, 1871, and 
began business August 1st. John P. Schneider is now president, and E. G. Scholtze, 
secretary. It has a cash capital of $200,000. It has paid losses to the amount of 
$264,854, cash dividends of $116,046, and stock dividends to the amount of 
$78,802. 

The Armenia Insurance Company of Pittsburgh was incorporated March 26th, 

1872, and began business May 15th, 1872, with a capital stock paid up of $250,000; 
par value of shares, $100. Its first office was over the first National Bank, Fifth 
avenue. Its first board of directors was S. S. D. Thompson, T. Brent Swearingen,. 
Alexander Patterson, John S. Scully, W. P. Logan, Jacob H. Walter, Chas. Zug, 
Hugh McNeil, A. Weise, John A. Myler, John Heath, C. L. Shaub, Henry War- 
ner, John H. McCreery, James Laughlin, Jr., R. S. Waring, Joseph Phillips, R. 
H. Dalzell, Joseph Gazzam, Jacob Kopp, Isaac Stewart. The first president was 
S. S. D. Thompson, who is still in office. The first secretary was T. Brent Swear- 
ingen. Pie was succeeded by J, L, Butler, who was elected in November, 1874, 
and died in May, 1875. He was succeeded by E. A. Curtis, June, 1875, who re- 
signed in May, 1880, to take charge of the New York branch of the company, 
and was succeeded by W. D. McGill, the present secretary, in May, 1880. The 
company has paid dividends from the time of its organization up to January 1st, 
1888, to the amount of $270,000, and losses to the amount of $385,882.90, and has 
a surplus of $25,000 over all liabilities. 

The German- American Insurance Company was incorporated March lltb, 

1873, and began business June 2d. G. H. Meyer is the present president, and W.. 



286 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

J. Patterson the secretary. It has a cash capital of $100,000, and a surplus of 
^7,783.81. It has paid losses to the amount of $243,119.35, and cash dividends 
of $76,000. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

Electrical Appliances 



It is safe to say that Pittsburgh has within the past ten years made more rapid 
strides in introducing the practical applications of electricity to the various indus- 
tries than any other city in the United . States. It is not meant by this that the 
city is in advance of all others in this field, but have reference more particularly 
to what has been acquired in that time. 

Prior to 1878 there was nothing here in the electrical line save the ordinary 
telegraph systems. Pittsburgh has always been an important telegraph point as a 
repeating station. In 1878 Mr. T. B. A. David brought the Edison telephone to 
Pittsburgh, and in the same year the Bell system was introduced. The merchants 
were slow in seeing the advantages of the telephone, as is proven by the amount 
of business done by both companies at the time of their consolidation, Edison 
Company having fifty instruments and the Bell about thirty, or a total of eighty, 
while now there are between two and three thousand instruments in service. 

In 1877 Mr. Eugene Ingold brought from Cleveland a four-light electric light 
machine. The apparatus was put up on Duquesne Heights and operated for a 
week. This attracted attention, but did not develop business. In fact, two years 
were spent in securing the first sale. And this- was a six-light machine to James 
Park, steel manufacturer. 

This attracted general attention, and its superior advantages as an illuminant 
for mills were appreciated and they soon came into general use. By 1882 the 
electric light had secured the confidence of the public, and Mr. George Westing- 
house and associates organized the Allegheny County Electric Light Company and 
purchased the rights of the Brush patent. A short time after Mr. Ingold organ- 
ized the Pittsburgh Electric Company and secured the agency of the Edison Com- 
pany for incandescent lighting, and the Thomson Hueston Company for arc lighting* 
This briefly sketches the introduction of the use of electricity into its wider com- 
mercial usages in Pittsburgh. 

It has been actively followed up, and to day the use of electricity for motors, 
illuminating, telephones, call wires, and the many ways in which it is being daily 
applied, has made its use no longer a novelty in Allegheny county. It has, how- 
ever, given rise to an establishment at Pittsburgh which is a scientific wonder. 

The works of the Westinghouse Electric Company have grown from Mr. George 
Westinghouse's first investments in electrical appliances in 1882, before mentioned. 
To attempt to give any description of these immense works, unless in purely 



ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES. 287 

technical language, would be a failure, and but little understood by the general 
reader unless accompanied by illustrations and pages of description. 

In its rooms are to be encountered men of many nationalities, Hungarians, 
Italians, Germans, Swedes, Frenchmen, Englishmen, men learned in the abstruser 
depths of the science of electricity and of proven genius. Whether one is learned 
in the native languages of these corps of talented men who are enthusiastically 
busy developing new electrical appliances, and inventing new methods of rendering 
it of practical use in every day life, they must be well acquainted with the lan- 
guage of science to comprehend the technical explanations of the work performed. 
It may be briefly described as an encyclopedia of electrical knowledge and a poly- 
technical school of science. 

The Westinghouse Electric Company has a capital of five million dollars, fully 
paid ; employs at its works in the city of Pittsburgh from 750 to 1,500 hands, ac- 
cording to the season and the condition of work. 

The manufacturing property of the company consists of two brick buildings, 
each 150x75 feet, and five stories high ; another brick building about 75 feet front 
and 140 feet deep, five stories high, and a large one-story machine shop about 175 
feet square. 

The apparatus manufactured by this company is in use at over 125 central 
lighting stations throughout the United States and Canada. The capacity of the 
works is equal to the turning out of apparatus for the complete supplying of 5,000 
16-candle power lamps per diem. 

This company was organized early in the year 1886, prior to which time it 
existed almost as an experimental department of the Union Switch and Signal 
Company. So soon as the organization of the Westinghouse Electric Company 
was effected, early in 1886, a large amount of money and a great deal of energy 
was put into the new organization, which resulted in placing this company in the 
short space of about three years in the foremost ranks of electrical manufacturing 
and engineering concerns in this country. 

The Westinghouse Electric Company was the first to introduce in this country 
what is known as the alternate system of electric lighting, which has revolution- 
ized the art and rendered possible the distribution of incandescent lighting and of 
power service from any given spot as a central station over any area actually found 
to exist in a city or town. 

This company is also the first to introduce a meter for measuring electricity, 
the same as gas companies. This instrument, which is beautiful in its simplicity, 
is the invention of the company's electrician, Mr. O. B. Shallenberger. 

The Westinghouse Electric Company was also the first to introduce motors for 
running on an alternating current circuit. 

Although the Westinghouse Electric Company is the youngest of what are 
known as electric companies, yet through the great energy and ability of its pro- 
moter it has become one of the strongest and most enterprising companies in the 
business. 



288 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

The works of the Union Switch and Signal Company, mentioned before as the 
establishment of which the Westinghouse Electric Company was but an experi- 
mental department, before its organization as a distinct corporation, are too well 
known in all railroad circles to requre any especial introduction, and its automatic 
electric signals, switching apparatus and automatic block signals are too widely in 
use to have escaped the observation of travelers, while to railway people and ex- 
perts they need no description. 

The products of this corporation are not only such as add to the magnitude of 
the output of the manufacturers of Pittsburgh, but of a character that renders 
them valuable in other than by pecuniary estimates. This value is in the safety 
which is by them given to railway travel and the prevention of collisions by the 
electric automatic locking switch and signal shifting levers manufactured by thi& 
company. The appliance of these is through the ''Block system" as first intro- 
duced on the Pennsylvania Eailroad some three or four years since. 

The Union Switch and Signal Company manufacture railway signals of all 
kinds, operating automatically by the passing train through rail or wire circuits^ 
to set or reverse signals in front or rear, or both. 

The company own or control over 250 patents, which is believed to cover all 
reliable or safe circuits for electrical signaling. 

This comprehensive corporation, of which George Westinghouse, Jr., is presi- 
dent, C. H. Jackson, vice president and general manager, and A. T. Eowand, 
secretary, occupy in the manufacture of their signals one and a quarter of an acre 
of ground, the greater part of which is covered by a five-story brick building, 
in which 135 hands are employed, whose wages average $135,000 a year. The 
works are in operation about 300 days in the year, and the products run from 
$300,000 to $500,000 annually. The value of the plant, including cost of patents^ 
is $1,886,000. The office is at the works, on the corner of Duquesne way and 
Garrison alley. 

Although many inventions have been patented and tried by which the wires 
of telegraph and telephone companies could be laid underground, yet none of the 
inventions were satisfactory in their practical working. To Pittsburgh talent, in- 
vention and persistency belongs the honor of having solved the problem, which 
success resulted in the formation of the Standard Underground Cable Company. 

This company manufactures the Waring underground aerial and submarine 
cables for telephone, telegraph, electric light and other electrical uses. In the 
summer of 1882 E-ichard S. Waring, the inventor of the cables and processes 
owned by the Submarine Underground Cable Company, laid his first experimental 
line of five-wire anti-induction cable from Vesta Oil Works, Waring Station, on 
the Allegheny Valley Eailroad, to the general offices of the Standard Oil Com- 
pany, on Seventh street, Pittsburgh. 

Operating a single wire as a Morse circuit and an adjacent one as a telephone 
circuit, it was discovered that induction, the bugbear of air lines as well as of 
previous underground systems, was completely overcome. In 1883 a company was 



CHURCH HISTORY. 289 

formed, with a capital of $3,000,000, and a large manufactory was built at the 
corner of Sixteenth and Eailroad streets, in Pittsburgh, for the manufacture of 
the Waring cables, which covers 100x117 feet, four stories. In the same year the 
company put several miles of the Waring anti-induction cable into successful op- 
eration for the National Government in Washington, connecting the Capitol, the 
White House, War, State and Navy Departments, and several miles for the Dis- 
trict Fire Department. 

The inventor seems to have solved the problem of underground telegraphy and 
marks another era in the progress of Pittsburgh in the building up of its national 
reputation as a cosmopolitan manufacturing center. 

Though unable to give the amount of labor, as it varies from time to time, it is 
safe to say that it ranks among the leading industries of Pittsburgh. 

In concluding this brief account of the chief electrical industries of the city, 
it cannot be better done than by quoting the opening sentence of this chapter, "It 
is safe to say that Pittsburgh has within the past ten years made more rapid 
strides in introducing the practical application of electricity as an industry than 
any other city in the United States." 



CHAPTEE XXI. 
Churches, Schools and Newspapers. 

Settled as Allegheny county was so largely by the Scotch, Irish and the G-et- 
man population, it would have been a strange departure from the general charac- 
teristic of either race if under their religious tendencies the country around Fort 
Pitt had not shown buds of the uprising of the various religious denominations 
that have since grown to healthy trees, bearing good fruit. The soil on which 
the seeds were dropped seemed unpromising, for it is indisputable that any or all 
of the vices of the frontier and garrison town of that early period flourished at 
that time. 

In the general history embraced in this volume mention has been made of th6 
opinion of Arthur Lee as to the moral atmosphere of Pittsburgh, and the almost 
despairing expression as to the possible religious future of the settlement in the 
record that that there is "neither priest or church in the place." It is very evi- 
dent from all accounts written in those early days and the traditions of the es- 
capades of even the better sort of people, that there was but little systematic 
religious observance, although James Kenny, in 1761, writes in his journal: "Ye 
soberer sort of people seem to long for some way of public worship." 

The word the "Quaker man" used to designate the class of people who had a 
"longing for some way of public worship" as from what is known of the affection 
entertained by the population at that time of the frontier for "John Barleycorn " 
is rather ambiguous in the meaning, but for the credit of the early settlement 

19 



290 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

must be interpreted as meaning the more reflecting people. It is certain that 
amid the rude and reckless characters of the first settlements there was little sym- 
pathetic religion practised and no resident minister of the gospel. 

The first Protestant religious services west of the Alleghenies were at Mus- 
kingum, a Wyandot town, on the river of that name, where on Christmas day, 
1850, Christopher Gist read the Church of England services, which was translated 
to the Indians by Andrew Montour. 

From time to time ministers visited the point and preached to the soldiers and 
settlers. Eev. Charles Beatty in 1758, and Kev. Dufiield in 1766. But their 
preaching seems to have been of but little avail, as a company of ruffians from this 
section massacred the first Christians of the wilderness. In April, 1770, Moravian 
missionaries came down the Allegheny in sixteen canoes from the Christian Indian 
settlements on the Susquehanna. From Fort Pitt the missionaries went down the 
Ohio river and up the Big Beaver some twenty miles and established a settlement 
called Friedensstadt, or the Village of Peace. Here many converts to Christianity 
were made from the surrounding Delaware villages, and the settlement prospered 
in every way, but the feeling of revenge against the "red skins" was too bitter 
around Fort Pitt for peace, and, in 1775, the Moravian missionaries took their con- 
verts to a quiet region on the Tuscarawas river in Eastern Ohio, where the settle- 
ments of Gnadenhutten and Schoebrunn were established. Five years later, when 
these two peaceful settlements were destroyed by the surrounding unchristianized 
Indians at the instigation of Simon Girty and Elliot the deserter, Kilbuck the fa- 
mous Delaware chief took them under his protection, and the Moravian mission- 
aries continued their work in the Indian village on Smoky Island, since washed 
away by the Allegheny river floods, opposite Fort Pitt. In 1782 the Moravian 
village of Gnadenhutten was again surprised and pillaged by a body of 300 men 
under the command of Captain Williams, of Washington, Pa., incensed against the 
missionaries possibly on account of their preaching abstinence from liquors. 

The first permanent church west of the Alleghenies was the German United 
Evangelical Protestant Church. A log structure, on the corner of Diamond and 
Wood streets, was established by the Rev. Wilhelm Weber, a minister from West- 
phalia, Germany, who included in his circuit four churches. The church which 
ultimately took the place of this log building is the structure at the corner of 
Smithfield street and Sixth avenue. 

In 1786 the Penn heirs donated the property now occupied by the church. In 
1793 Rev. Mr. Weber dropped the Pittsburgh church and gave his attention to his 
Greensburg congregation, the twenty families of the Pittsburgh congregation having 
grown to twice that number. He was succeeded in his pastorate by Rev. Mr. 
Sahnee, and he by Rev. Mr. Ingold, one of the most learned men of his time in 
the State. He was the son of a Huguenot minister who fled to America to escape 
persecution. His library was at that time one of the finest collections in America. 
Rev. Mr. Geisenheimer succeeded him and preached to the Reformed denomina- 
tion in the morning and the Lutheran in the afternoon, under the same roof. He 



CHURCH HISTORY. 291 

"was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Kurz, and he by Rev. Mr. Kaemmerer, who remained 
in charge until 1840. In 1883 it built a new meeting house surmounted by a 
steeple and a bell, which was the first used in the city for religious purposes. The 
bell still calls the people to worship and has a romantic history, having been 
brought to America by a poor Swiss schoolmaster who was unable to pay duty upon 
it, and the church obtained it by paying the Custom House demands. 

Until 1833 the Smithfield Street Church was the only German church in the 
county. In that year the congregation split, and one faction, headed by Nicholas 
Voegtly, established the Lutheran church corner of Ohio street and Church alley, 
Allegheny. 

In 1840, the Rev. Mr. Jaehal came to minister to the Pittsburgh church. He 
was succeeded by Rev. Koeler in 1846, then Rev. Waldburger in 1852 ; in 1858, 
by Rev. Dr. Walther, a man of much learning, in whose ministry the burying 
ground which had extended back of the church to Montour way and Strawberry 
Alley, was changed to Troy Hill, and the present dwellings erected upon it. On 
the death of Dr. Walther, in 1868, Rev. Carl Weil succeeded him, in whose charge 
the building now occupied by the congregation was erected. It cost $137,000. In 
1879 Rev. Frederick Ruoff assumed the charge. The church has now a member- 
ship of 1,800 persons. The property it owns is assessed at $400,000. 

In response to a petition from some few individuals in this modern Sodom, the 
Redstone Presbytery sent Rev. Joseph Smith then pastor of the churches of Cross 
Creek and Buffalo, to preach to them on the fourth Sabbath of August, 1784. 
Among the first to encourage a place of worship in Pittsburgh was John Wilkins, 
who records that when he first entered the town in 1783, "all sorts of wickedness 
was carried on to excess " he concludes that " Presbyterian ministers were afraid 
to come to the town, lest they should be mocked and mistreated." The history of 
the times afford just such a conclusion as that to which this first settler came. 
Many incidents are still preserved of the difficulty under which the pioneers of the 
church labored. Not with Indians only, but also with the disorderly element 
among the white settlers, who maintained the bitterest aversion to everything in 
the name of religion. Very often the people assembled for worship were hooted, 
pelted with stones and their assemblies broken up. In October, 1784, Rev. James 
Power, by appointment of the Presbytery, preached to the congregation of wor- 
shipers in the town. In 1785, Rev. Samuel Barr, from Londonderry, Ireland, be- 
gan to minister regularly to the people in Pittsburgh and Beulah, in Pitt township, 
and on June 17th of that year he was ordained to the full work of the Redstone 
Presbytery. Although a request was made in this year to the Legislature for the 
incorporation of a Presbyterian congregation, no Act was passed until 1787. Dur- 
ing this period the Rev. Mr. Barr ministered to the two congregations. On Sep- 
tember 24th, 1787, the Penn heirs deeded two and a half lots of ground to' the 
congregation on which to erect a house of worship. This they proceeded to do 
building a church of " moderate dimensions and square timber." This church 
was used until 1804 when it was replaced by a more commodious one. This build- 



292 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

ing was the first Presbyterian Church in the city that now contains two hundred 
churches. 

No doubt but that the elders at least of that early church were Godly and piou& 
men, but the methods they used to defray church expenses would to-day cause 
them to be " sessioned " expeditiously. In 1807 an advertisement in the Pitts- 
burgh Gazette announces that " the managers will commence the drawing of the- 
Presbyterian Church lottery in the Court House in Pittsburgh the 20th day of 
October." The advertisement is signed by John Wilkins, John Johnston and 
William Porter, managers. 

They also purpose to sell the tickets on credit, payable ten days after the draw- 
ing commences. 

In a later advertisement the managers threaten to bring suit against all parties 
who have not yet paid for their lottery tickets. Church fairs and oyster suppers 
have to-day taken the place of the lottery of 1807 as a church financial scheme. 
The principle seems to be the same, if it has been somewhat watered, in accordance 
with the fashion of to-day. 

Eev. Samuel Barr continued to serve this congregation until June 12th, 1789^ 
when he requested a dissolution of his pastoral relations, giving among other rea- 
sons that " the trustees had requested him to collect his own salary for the past 
year, which was as much as to say that he might hunt after his salary from door 
to door." After his withdrawal the church was variously ministered until 1799, 
when Rev. Robert Steele, from Ireland, began to preach for them, and soon after- 
wards became the pastor, and so continued until his death, March 22d, 1810. On 
April 3d, 1811, Eev. Francis Herron, D. D., one of the noble men connected 
with the growth of the city, became the pastor, which he continued, loved and 
revered by all his people, until his death in 1860, although ten years previous to 
his decease Rev. W. M. Paxton took the great burden of the work off his shoulders. 
In 1803 differences arose among the membership of the First Church, which finally 
culminated in the formation of the Second Presbyterian Church, over which Rev. 
Nathaniel R. Snowden was installed pastor on October 5th, 1805. From this be- 
ginning has been evolved at least thirty thoroughly organized churches of like 
faith in the territory embraced by the Mother Church. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church stands third in succession among the family 
of Protestant Christianity in Pittsburgh. No regular parochial was organized until 
1805, although in 1797 a company of people brought up in the faith invited the 
Rev. John Taylor to officiate as their minister. An act of corporation was granted 
to Trinity Protestant Church, and in the same year the congregation began the 
erection of a brick building on the triangular piece of ground at the intersection 
of Wood street and Sixth avenue with Liberty street, Presley Neville and Samuel 
Roberts being chosen wardens, with Nathaniel Irish, Joseph and Jeremiah Barker, 
Andrew Richardson, Ohver Ormsby, Nathaniel Bedford, George W. McGonigle,. 
George Robinson, Robert McKee, Alexander Laughlin, William Cecil and Joseph 
Davis as vestry men. Worship was maintained in this building, which became 



CHURCH HISTORY. 293 

If nown as the " Eoiind Church " from its circular form, until 1825, when the 
building so familiar to Pittsburghers as Old Trinity on Sixth avenue was erected 
and consecrated by the Rt. Rev. William White, D. D., Bishop of Pennsylvania. 
Rev. John Taylor continued in the rectorship of the church until 1817, when he 
was succeeded by Rev. Able Carter. This church has enjoyed the services of 
some of the most prominent clergymen of that faith in this country, among others 
-Rev. John H. Hopkins, afterwards Bishop of the Diocese of Vermont, and Rev. 
Oeorge Up fold, D. D., who was rector from 1831 to 1849, when he became Bishop 
of the Diocese of Indiana ; the Rev. Scarborough, Bishop of New Jersey. This 
church is the mother of many large and prosperous churches of that order in 
Pittsburgh and Allegheny, and is to-day ministered to by the Rev. Samuel 
Maxwell. 

During the French occupation of this spot a Catholic chaplain ministered here 
t)ut he retired with the French. As the population began to increase, the small 
number of Catholics were ministered to from 1787 to the end of the century by 
priests passing west to Kentucky and other places. The population did not contain 
more than fifty practical members, with perhaps as many more nominal, at the 
beginning of the century, who were from time to time visited by a priest from 
Westmoreland county ; the first resident priest. Rev. W. F. X. O'Brien, who arrived 
in November, 1808, and in the same year the first church was begun. The first 
visit of a bishop was that of the Rt. Rev. Michael Egan, of Philadelphia, in 
August, 1811. The place was first under the ecclesiastical of Quebec, then of 
iiondon, England, next of Baltimore, and later of Philadelphia, till July, 1843, 
when the See of Pittsburgh was erected and the Rt. Rev. Michael O'Connor named 
first bishop. The statistics of the two cities were then, one bishop, four priests, 
one cathedral, two churches, one orphan asylum, and a Roman Catholic popula- 
tion estimated at 11,000 souls. The See of Allegheny was erected January 11th, 

1876, but tlie administration of it was reunited to that of Pittsburgh August 3d, 

1877. The work done by this denomination to- day is an extensive one, and num- 
ber besides its cathedrals, churches, and chaples, parish schools, academies, hospi- 
tals, orphan asylums, homes for the aged, and reformatory institutions, under the 
jurisdiction of this See. The Roman Catholic population, which is now estimated 
at 87,000 souls, increased slowly but began to grow apace and received its greatest 
impulse from the rapid developments of our manufactories, especially since the be- 
ginning of the late war, as in many industries a large part of the foreign working 
population come from Roman Catholic countries. The large number of churches 
in which from two to six masses are celebrated every Sunday, are often incapable 
•of accommodating those of this faith. A constant demand is made either for en- 
larging the churches or building new ones. The influence of this church has not 
sunfrequently been exerted effectively where civil law was little regarded by the 
large foreign element of that faith which continually seeks employment here with 
but the one idea of accumulating a little money with which to return to their 

mative land, and have little or no respect for our civil authorities. It is not possi- 



294 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

ble to follow in this limited space the history and good work done by the twenty- 
five denominations in the city and their two hundred churches. The Methodist 
church which began in weakness to sow the seed is now foremost in zeal and mem- 
bership, and is followed closely by the Baptist and Lutheran and United Presby- 
terian. 

It is much to the credit of Allegheny county to say that the number of those 
professing religion to those who do not is greater to-day than at any time in our 
history. Among the many names which are still reverently cherished as promul- 
gating the truths of the gospel, are Robert Bruce and John Black. The former 
a Scotchman and the latter a Scotch-Irishman. Robert Bruce was a seceder, as 
the first offshoot of the Kirk was called in those days, and an Edinburgh graduate. 
He was born February 20th, 1776, and died June 14th, 1846. As the first princi- 
pal of the Western University and second pastor of the First U. P. Church, Rev, 
Ebenezer Henderson was the first, and as a diviue of that severe orthodox type now 
not so frequently observed, the memory of Dr. Bruce is one of Pittsburgh's favorite 
reminiscences. Dr. John Black was his cotemporary and successor at the university^ 
was another divine of the olden style, that of the gloomiest Calvinistic type. Dr. 
Black was for many years pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and was 
ordained in the old Court House in 1800. Rev. Dr. Black was a graduate of 
Glasgow University, and died in 1849 in the 81st year of his age. 

The first Baptist Tabernacle was a low frame edifice on Grant street. The 
first Methodist worship was held within the enclosure of old Fort Pitt. The first 
regular Roman Catholic Church was on Liberty street, near the old canal. The 
most eminent of the Romish priests who upheld the teachings of Rome was the 
Rev. Charles B. Maguire, for many years the spiritual guardian for the cure of 
souls of St. Patrick's Catholic Church. It was under his consecration that the 
corner-stone of St. Pauls Cathedral was laid, before mentioned in the general his- 
tory of the county, on June 24th, 1829. 

There are now in Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities alone some 251 churches, 
of which 15 are Baptist, 56 Roman Catholic, 4 Congregationalist, 6 Disciples, 17 
Episcopal, 17 Evangelical Lutheran, 33 Methodist Episcopal, — African Method- 
ist Episcopal, 10 Methodist Protestant, 30 Presbyterian, 26 United Presbyterian,. 
5 Reformed Presbyterian, 5 Evangelical Association, 2 Cumberland PresbyteriaUy 
4 Reformed Church of the United States, 7 United Evangelical Protestant (Ger- 
man), 4 Jewish, and 6 miscellaneous. 

Schools. 

In any account of education in Allegheny county the Quaker, James Kenny,, 
whose journal in 1760-61, written at Fort Pitt, has been several times quoted 
from, must be mentioned again, as fixing the date when teaching of the young 
was first begun at Fort Pitt. 

In "12 mo., 4," he writes: "Many of ye inhabitants have hired a school 
master, and subscribed about sixty pounds for this year for him, and he has about 
twenty scholars." This was in 1761, and in that year, it is to be assumed, the 



SCHOOL HISTORY, 295 

first seed of public assessments for the payment of school expenses was sown, 
which finds its modern development in the school tax. 

The growth of schools from that time until the beginning of the present cen- 
tury is difficult to trace. In a public list in 1808 of the "master workmen" in 
each particular branch of business carried on in Pittsburgh, twelve school mis- 
tresses are mentioned ; and about this time an advertisement in the Gazette, before 
mentioned in the pages treating of the general history of Allegheny county, an- 
nounces that a Mrs. Pride has opened a school to teach certain accomplishments. 

The Pittsburgh Academy was chartered in 1787 and in 1819 it became the 
Western University. There is no record of its early professors but in 1810 it was 
in charge of Kev. Joseph Stockton and Drs. Swift and McElroy. Dr. Stockton was 
the author of some text books that were in general use the first half of the present 
century. Later on among the professors of the institution were Father Maguire 
and Drs. Bruce and Black who, although they difiered on religious matters, were 
the closest friends. 

In 1799 there was a Pittsburgh Classical Academy taught by Tierney and Cal- 
lan. Their school was in a building opposite the Exchange Bank. In 1819 Mr. 
Cole taught a school on Sixth street where the Hotel Anderson now stands, and 
Daniel Bushell and William McCleary taught in the Court House. In 1821, Rev. 
John Campbell taught an ungraded school over Lecky's blacksmith shop on Vir- 
gin alley and later opened a high school on Smithfield street near Sixth. About 
this time there was a school in a frame building near the Lewis block in charge of 
V. B. Magahen, and Daniel McCurdy and a Mr. Moody taught in an academy on 
the corner of Fourth avenue and Ferry street. In 1821-2 Mr. McClurkan kept a 
school in a frame building on Fifth avenue opposite Masonic Hall. In the same 
year David L. Brown had also a school in his dwelling on Second avenue between 
Wood and Market streets. In the time from 1823 to 1830 a number of teachers 
came to Pittsburgh. One of these was a Mr. Carr who had a school in a small 
frame building on Hay Scale alley between Third and Fourth avenues. At this 
time other schools in the city were taught by Mr. J. Dumars. Mr. Richmond, and 
Rev. John Winters. This last named taught in the Baptist Church on the lot now 
occupied by Kaufman's building. 

In 1832 Mr. Daniel Stone and his sister opened a Young Ladies Seminary in 
Bishop Hopkins' residence. The following year a high school upon the site of the 
English Block, on Fourth avenue, was opened by Mr. John Nivens. 

In 1832 Mr. Caskey taught a school in the upper story of a blacksmith's shop 
which stood on the lot now occupied by the Vandergrift Block. As the city in- 
creased in population the schools became more numerous than is possible in this 
limited space to mention. At a session of the legislature in 1832 numerous peti- 
tions (12j per cent of all the voters in the state) asked for a repeal of a school law 
that had been passed in 1834 and quite a number of the petitioners were obliged 
to make their mark, not being able to write their name. 

Immediately after the passage of the free school law each of the four ward-;, 
North, South, East and West, then constituting the city of Pittsburgh, approved 



296 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

the measure and took steps to put its provisions into effect. The county bought a 
lot on Ferry street, upon which they erected a building and opened a school for 
the education of the children of the very poor. The First Ward School Board 
(Duquesne) purchased this in 1836 or 1837 and opened a public school under the 
law of 1834. This is believed to be the first property owned by a school board 
under this Act. The building is still standing. 

The Second ward (South) opened the first public school in that district on the 
11th of September, 1835, in the old carpet factory near the corner of Smitfield and 
Water streets. 

The Third ward (Grant) erected the first public school building for that dis- 
trict in 1836 on the corner of Diamond street and Cherry alley. The present 
building at the corner of Strawberry alley and Grant street was said, when com- 
pleted, to be the best school building in the United States, (1852). 

The first public school in the Fourth ward (North) was opened in an old 
building on the corner of Duquesne way and Seventh street. 

This school continued there from 1835 to 1838, when it removed to a building 
erected for it on the same street near Penn avenue. 

In 1836, when the Fifth ward (now Ninth and Tenth) was added to the city, a 
school was opened in this ward in 1837, in rented rooms, where it remained until 
1842, when it removed to two school houses built for it, one on Pike street, the 
other on Liberty street. 

The Sixth ward (Forbes) becoming a part of the city in 1846. the first school 
building was erected on Ann street in 1848, and the small building on Second 
avenue was built in 1851. 

The Seventh and Eighth wards (Franklin) became a part of the city in 1845, 
and the first school was opened in the present building on the 11th of May, 1847. 

The Eleventh ward became part of the city in 1846, and a school building was 
erected in 1848 on Green and Linton streets. 

The Twelfth ward (O'Hara and Springfield) became part of the city in 1846, 
and although there was a small school building, a public school building was 
erected in 1848 upon the corner of Twenty-fifth and Small man streets. 

Almost all of these early schools have since moved into new buildings, and are 
difierently called than at the time of their opening. As many of the public 
schools are of such recent date it is not of interest to the general reader nor as yet 
of sufficient historic value in a general work to mention at length. 

It is said in the minute book of the Peebles township school board that the 
people of the East End were the first to avail themselves of the privileges of the 
free school act. 

Among the names of those who worked to build up the free school system in 
this vicinity are John Kelly, J. B. D. Meads, Isaac Whittier and George F. Gil- 
more, who organized the first free schools in Allegheny county ; later on we have 
the names of S. F. Covell, Andrew Burtt, D. C. Holmes, James M. Pryor, Henry 
AVilliams, James Newell, Lucius Osgood, W.W. Dickson and Philotus Dean. The 



HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS. 297 

free school system that PennsyWania adopted over half a century ago under so 
much opposition has steadily grown in favor until free education is ofiered to the 
children of all the thirty-eight States in the Union. 

In 1835 George F. Gilmore opened the first public school in Pittsbrgh, in 
rented rooms on the corner of Irwin (now Seventh) street and Duquesne way, en- 
rolling five pupils. 

In 1856 there were 109 teachers and 6,724 pupils, and in 1886 there were 557 
teachers and 27,959 pupils. The school property of the city is valued at over 
$2,000,000. 

Newspapers. 

Longfellow has tersely written " Let the dead past bury its dead," and to re- 
view the past of the newspaper world of Allegheny county, is but to erect some 
pages of tombstones to the memory of a hundred or so of newspapers dead and 
gone, on some of which might be aptly inscribed the famous epitaph, "Since so 
soon I'm done for I wonder what I was begun for." Many of them were launched 
on the sea of journalistic venture by able hands and talented journalists, but their 
wrecks lie thick around. In the centennial number of the Pittsburgh Gazette, 
(1886,) is an historic sketch of the newspapers from 1786 to 1850, prepared by 
William C. Anderson, editor of that publication, himself a veteran in journalism 
who won his spurs over forty years ago as a reporter. This article makes mention 
of fifty-two publications, daily, weekly, and monthly, which succumbed to financial 
storms and the neglect of an unappreciative public. Of these born but to die since 
that date it can be said they were many. With newspapers the survival of the 
fittest is an active law, and at no time more so than in these days when the publi- 
cation of an acceptable newspaper means not only the constant expenditure of 
large sums of money, but a corps of the brightest minds of the day, and indefatig- 
able workers. The newspapers of to-day in Allegheny county are an illustration 
of that law, and some of them in their lives have assisted at the death bed of 
many defunct publications, and with a sort of newspaper cannibalism absorbed their 
remains. 

Printing has been styled " the art preservative of all arts," and the newspaper 
might be called the never ceasing historian, for in their files is recorded daily con- 
tinuance of all things, from Farmer Jones' tall stock of oats to the events that 
change the whole current of human life ; the instantaneous photograph of the 
hour, they become in years the phonograph from out of whose columes come the 
tones of censure or praise, the voice of warning or of commendation from the past. 

The newspaper of to-day, whose files reaches the political, social and mercan- 
tile voices of Allegheny county's existence from its beginning, is the Pittsburgh 
Commercial Gazette, established in 1786, two years before the organization of the 
county. Issued two years previous to the election of George Washington, it is 
noteworthy that it has participated in every presidental canvass and election. It 
has always been a political journal, and it may be said the advocate of the same 
party principles through the various ancestry of editorship which has controlled 



298 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

its columns, and to-day is thoroughly "Republican" as it was "Whig" years ago, 
and earlier "Federal." Established 1786 by John Scull and Joseph Hall, it was 
a journalistic venture in the fullest sense of the word. At what time Joseph Hall 
retired from the proprietorship does not appear, but Nicholas Scull retired in 181 G 
and his son, John I., succeeded. 

From 1818 the paper was published by John I. Scull and Morgan Neville, and 
was issued as a semi-weekly until March 2d, 1820, when the paper was issued as a 
weekly again. In March 20th, 1820, Scull and Morgan dissolved partnership. 
They were succeeded by Eichbaum & Johnston, as publishers, Morgan Neville 
being retained as editor. The paper was enlarged and its title changed to Fltts- 
burgh Gazette and Manufacture and Mercantile Advertiser June 5th, 1820. 

About 1822 it passed into the hands of D. & M. McLean who continued its 
publication until September 18th, 1829, when they were succeeded by Neville B, 
Craig. The secondary title of the paper had been dropped about 1825-6. The 
paper was issued as a weekly until September 23d, 1823, when it again changed to 
a semi- weekly. 

September 28th, 1828, a separate weekly edition was begun. The first issue of 
the Gazette as a daily was on July 30th, 1833. On September 16th, 1835, Mathew 
Grant became a partner, and the business style of the firm was Craig & Grant. 
July 1st, 1840, Alex. Ingram, Jr., purchased the paper. In 1841 D. N. White 
purchased it from Mr. Ingram and changed the issue from an evening to a morning 
one, associating with him B. F. Harris ; the firm style was White & Harris. On 
April 1st, 1846, Erastus Brooks purchased the paper and took charge as proprietor 
and editor. June 7th, 1847, the firm style was Brooks & Co., S. Haight having 
become a partner. July 1st, 1848, Mr. White again purchased the paper and con- 
tinued its publication until 1859, when he sold it to S. Eiddle & Co., (Samuel 
Eiddle, Russell Errett, James M. Macrum, and Daniel L. Eaton.) In 1864 " The 
Gazette Association " was formed and purchased the paper from S. Riddle & Co. 
May 14th, 1866, the establishment was purchased by Penniman, Reed & Co., (F. 
B. Penniman, Josiah King, N. P. Reed, Thos. P. Houston.) Mr. Penniman retired 
•November 1st, 1870, and February 1st, 1871, Henry M. Long was admitted, and 
the firm style became King, Reed & Co. July 1st, 1872, Mr. Long retired, his 
interest being purchased by George W. Reed and D. L. Fleming. December 28th, 
3875, Thos. P. Houston died, and Mr. Fleming in February, 1876. The surviving 
partners purchased their interest. December 18th, 1882, Josiah King died, and 
January 10th, 1883, the remaining partners purchased his interest, and the firm 
style was changed to Nelson P. Reed & Co. Mr. J. P. Reed being admitted to the 
partnership. On April 1st, 1883, Frank M. Higgins became a partner. Mr. Hig- 
gins died November 1887. 

Such are the various business changes of a hundred years in the pioneer news- 
paper of the West, which celebrated its centennial now over two years since — a 
notable journalistic life in which it has absorbed three prominent rivals in the 
same school of politics: In 1844, the Daily Advocate and Advertiser, the Com- 



HISTORY OF J^EWISFAPERS. 299 

mereial Journal in the '60s, and the Commercial in February, 1877, when its title 
was changed to the Commercial Gazette. 

The Commercial, the last absorption of the Gazette, was established in 1863 as- 
the Pittsburgh Daily Commercial by the Commercial Printing Company. Thomas 
J. Bigham was editor; John B. Kennedy, associate editor. John C. Harper wa& 
also editor, and N. P. Sawyer was business manager. It was purchased by the 
Pittsburgh Newspaper and Printing Company, an association of business men of 
the city who entered the field of journalism as a stock company, with a capital of 
$50,000, in 1864. C. D. Brigham became its editor, and R. D. Thompson its busi- 
ness manager. A new charter was obtained in 1868, and the title changed to the 
Commercial Printing Company. About this date Mr. Brigham secured a majority 
of the stock, and controlled the paper financially, as well as editorially. In De- 
cember, 1872, Eobert M. Mackey bought the controlling interest, and Mr. Brig- 
ham retired in 1873. December 25th, 1873, Russell Errett became managing: 
editor, and M. L. Egan business manager. He was succeeded in 1875 by Edward 
Abel, and, as before stated, it was absorbed by the Gazette in 1877. 

The second paper whose origination goes further back in the century is the 
Daily Post. Descended from a line of Democratic journals, the gradual process 
of newspaper evolutions has resulted in a journal purely Democratic, without 
tinge of any other political belief in its blood, so to speak. The root of its ances- 
try was the Commonwealth, established by Ephriam Pentland, July 24th, 1805,. 
which was, to some extent, succeeded by the Mercury, established by James C 
Gilleland in 1811. In 1812 Joseph M. Snowden purchased the Mercury, of which 
he continued publisher until 1830, when Joseph M. Snowden took charge, until 
1835, and William H. Smith and Robbert Morrow were his successors. The 
Allegheny Democrat was established in 1824 by John M. Farland; after his death 
it being published by Leonard S. Johns. The Democrat passed through several 
hands, being in 1837 the Allegheny Democrat and Workingman's Advocate, W. C 
Stewart, editor, until in 1841 it was united with the Mercury, and both papers- 
were published by W. H. Smith, under the title of Mercury and Democrat. Some- 
time about 1831 William B. Conway established the American Manufacturer, which 
was continued by him, and afterwards by Thomas Phillips, until 1842, when the 
Mercury and Democrat and the Manufacturer were merged into the Weekly Mer- 
bury aud Manufacturer, and on the 10th of September, 1842, the Daily Post was- 
issued by Thomas Phillips and William H. Smith, under the firm style of Phillips^ 
& Smith. The paper afterwards passed into the proprietorship of Bigler, Sargent 
& Bigler, who were succeeded by Leckey Harper. During his proprietorship- 
John Layton, who was business manager, became a partner, and the firm style was^ 
Harper & Layton. John Layton died of the cholera in 1854, and Mr. Harper 
subsequently sold the paper to Gilmore & Montgomery (George F. Gilmore and 
— . Montgomery). James P. Barr, who had been originally a clerk in the estab- 
lishment, obtained the control of the Post from Gilmore & Montgomery, and the 
firm ultimately became James P. Barr & Co. (James P. Barr, Joseph S. Lare^, 



SOO ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

William Schoyer and E. A. Myers). Joseph S. Lare dying daring the partner- 
ship, his interests were purchased by the surviving partners, the firm style con- 
tinuing unchanged. James P. Barr died September 21, 1886. Shortly before Mr. 
Barr's death, on September 1, 1886, the Post was incorporated into the "Post Pub- 
lishing & Printing Company," of which Albert Barr is president, and William 
Schoyer, treasurer and business manager. The Post was the last of the large jour- 
nals of the city to change its folio form to that of a quarto, influenced in its ad- 
herence to old-time habits, perhaps, by its Democratic instincts. Several attempts 
have been made during the Posfs existence to establish rival Democratic journals, 
but the Post has continued the even tenor of its way, prospered and prospering, 
quietly watching the gradual decline and always sudden death of its Democratic 
compeers. Under the editorship of James P. Barr the Post obtained great influ- 
ence with the leaders of the Democratic party, and Mr. Barr was, in 1862, elected 
Purveyor General of the State of Pennsylvania. 

The Presbyterian Banner, which is the oldest religious paper in the United 
States, now owned by Rev. James Allison and E. Patterson, Rev. James Allison 
•editor, had its origination in the Weekly Recorder, which was established July 5th, 
1814. It was originally printed in Chillicothe, O., by Rev. John Andrews. Re- 
jmoved to Pittsburgh February, 1822, and name changed to Pittsburgh Recorder. 
January 10, 1828, it absorbed the Spectator; January 15, 1829, the Christian Her- 
ald, Rev. S. C. Jennings; 1833, Pittsburgh Christian Herald, Rev. J. D. Baird ; 1838, 
Presbyterian Advocate, Rev. Wm. Annan ; November 17, 1855, Presbyterian Banner 
and Advocate, Rev. D. McKinney, D. D.; March 10, 1860, changed to Presbyterian 
Banner. February 3, 1864, it passed into the ownership of Rev. Dr. James Alli- 
son and R. Patterson. 

The Pittsburgh Conference Journal, edited first by Rev. Charles Elliott, who was 
•succeeded by Rev. Wm. Hunter and Rev. Charles Cooke, was established in 1833* 
In 1841 it had been changed to the Christian Advocate, and has since been pub- 
lished under the auspices of the M. E. Church. 

The Pittsburgh Freiheits Freund (German) had its origin in Franklin county, 
Pa., at Cham bersburg, where it was established by Henry Ruby. It was a weekly, 
Tictor Scriba editor. In 1834 Mr. Scriba purchased Mr. Ruby's interest. In 
1837 Mr. Scriba removed the paper to Pittsburgh. In 1844 he began the pub- 
lication of a tri weekly, and in 1847 he issued it as a daily. In 1848 Mr. Louis 
Neeb, who, with his brother William, had been apprenticed in 1836 at Chambers- 
burg, entered into partnership with Mr. Scriba. In 1850 Wm. Neeb purchased 
Mr. Scriba's interest, and the firm became L. & W. Neeb, under which business 
fityle the paper has ever since been published. It is a strong advocate of the 
-doctrines of the Republican party. 

In 1839 the Western Recorder was established. This paper, which subsequently 
became the Methodist Recorder, resulted from the action of the Ohio and Pittsburgh 
Conferences of the Methodist Protestant Churches in favor of a Western Church 
paper, and Cornelius Springer was engaged to establish and conduct the paper. It 



HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS. 30 E 

was first published at Meadow Farm, Muskingum county, O., July, 1839. The 
name of the paper was twice changed, first to Western Methodist Protestant, and 
then in 1866 to Methodist Recorder. The paper was removed to Pittsburgh in 
1871, the first number issued here bearing date November 15, 1871. 

The Chronicle was issued as a weekly in May, 1841, by R. G. Burford. Sep- 
tember 8, 1841, as the Daily Morning Chronicle, edited by J. Heron Foster and 
Wm. H. Whitney. September, 1843, by Whitney, Dumars & Wright. In 1846^^ 
Wright sold his interest to James Dumars. In 1847 or 1848 the firm became 
Dumarp & Dunn ; in 1851 Barr & McDonald ; in 1853 Mr. Barr was succeeded by 
Rev. Samuel Babcock. Kennedy Brothers purchased the paper in 1854, and sold 
to Charles McKnight in 1856. In 1863 Joseph G. Siebeneck took an interest 
with McKnight, and in 1864 McKnight retired, and the firm became Siebeneck & 
Collins. Collins retired in 1874, and Siebeneck was sole proprietor until 1884 
when the paper was merged with the Evening Telegraph. 

The Preacher, Associate Reformed Presbyterian, semi-monthly, was established 
in 1842 by Rev. John T. Pressly, D. D., succeeded by Rev. David R. Kerr, D. D., 
in 1845. In 1848 changed to a weekly. In 1854 continued as the United Presby- 
terian by Dr. Kerr. This paper absorbed the United Presbyterian and Evangelical 
Guardian, of Cincinnati, about 1858, the Westminster Herald, of New Wilmington, 
Pa., in 1868, the Presbyterian Witness, of Cincinnati, in 1870, the Christian In- 
structor, of Philadelphia, in 1858. Rev. Dr. Kerr and H. J. Murdoch are the 
present proprietors. 

The first issue of the Pittsburgh Catholic is under date of March 16, 1844. The 
paper was started by P. F. Boy Ian and conducted by him until July, 1847, when 
it was purchased by the present proprietor, Jacob Porter. The word "Pittsburgh" 
was dropped from the title some years ago. The paper is the organ of the Catholic 
Diocese of Pittsburgh, but is individual property. 

In 1846, J. Heron Foster began the publication of the first successful penny 
paper in the west under the title of the Daily Dispatch. There had been a paper 
with a similar title issued in July, 1833, by John F. Jennings, which was the first 
penny paper in Pittsburgh. The paper was short lived as but seven numbers were 
printed. The Daily Dispatch of J. Heron Foster was, however, destined to a long 
life, verging now close on its semi-centennial year. It was a very small sheet when 
first issued, its columns containing not much more matter than is now published 
in two pages of the present eight page quarto edition. In 1849 Reese C. Fleeson: 
purchased an interest which he retained until his death in 1863. In 1865, O'NeiU 
& Rook purchased half the concern, and at the death of Mr. Foster, in 1867, be- 
came sole proprietors. Mr. Dan'l O'Neill died in 1877, and Mr. Rook in 1880. 
The controlling interest has since been held by Mr. E. M. O'Neill, who is presi- 
dent of The Dispatch Publishing Co., incorporated June 5, 1888. 

This journal has always been independent in its editoriaJ utterances and is at 
all times a reflex of the independant sentiments of the ccmmunity in all local 
public questions as well as national. 



:^02 ALLEGHEN' CO UNTY'S 

Ori sby Phillips, formerly mayor ol ti .ity of Allegheny and long one of the 
Ijoard of inspectors of the Western Penitentiary, was for some years its business 
managv?r, having purchased an interest. He died November 12, 1884, and his son 
Bakewell Phillips, succeeding to a part of that interest in the paper, is now its 
treasurer and business manager. In September, 1883, the Dispatch began the pub- 
lication of a Sunday edition (16 pages quarto) which at once acquired great popu- 
larity. 

In 1864, on December 11th, the first number of the Sunday Leader was issued 
Iby John W. Pittock, whose penchant for journalism was acquired as a news-boy — 
which humble busir' beginning he did not forget, having established the custom 
at PittsbVjrgh of a v^ Years dinner to the news-boys of the city. The Sunday 
Leader " ",;xht its wa^, to success through much prejudice against a Sunday paper, 
and other obstacles. The result of the first number was but forty-five dollars 
against an expenditure of two hundred and sixteen dollars, while the second 
brought but eight dollars and forty-three cents with an unreduced expense. The 
paper became a success and to-day no paper is looked for with more eagerness 
than the Sunday Leader. It was not until October, 1870, that the Evening Leader 
was issued, and sprung at once into general favor through its independent spirit 
and vivacity. Previous to this the edition of the Sunday Leader, having so largely 
increased that it called for faster presswork and Mr. Pittock purchased a Bullock 
press at the cost of |22,000 and is thus entitled to the honor of being the first to 
introduce the steyrotyping process for newspapers in the west. While this and 
other improvements were going on the business style of the publication was chang- 
ed to Pittock, Nevin & Co. (John Pittock, Kobert P. Nevin, John I. Nevin, E. M. 
Nevin, Jr.) on July 31st, 1870. 

Since then the business style has been changed to the Leader Publishing Co. 
The Evening Leader was the first to introduce special columns under the charge of 
distinct editors, with the terse headings of " All Sorts," " Personals " and " Brevi- 
ties " a feature in journalism that became popular and was subsequently made in 
other journals special features unrl^r other heads. The increase of the Sunday 
Leader called much rivalry int( ,voiiig but they died shortly for want of support 
until 

In 1872, the Evening Telegraph was projected by a number of the professional 
and business men of the city during the political campaign of that year. It did 
not, however, make its appearance until April, 1873. The association was organ- 
ized under the title of The Pittsburgh Evening Telegraph Publishing Company. 
H. B. Swope was the first editor of the journal, John C. Harper, managing editor 
and Thos. MacConnell, Jr., business manager. 

The Telegraph continued to be published under its first charter until December, 
1876, when the paper passed into the proprietorship of Kalph Bagaley. In July, 
1874, H. H. Byram, Robert H. Campe and C. S. Huntingdon purchased the estab- 
lishment from Mr. Bagaley and organized a firm under the business style of the 
Pittsburgh Telegraph Company and continued the publication of the paper with 



HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS. 303 

H. H. Byram as editor. In Decern er. 1883, the Chronicle was merg in the 
Telegraph and a stock company was formed under the style of the Pik dburgh 
Chronicle Telegraph Company; H. H. Byram continuing editor, and Eob't H. 
Campe being manager and treasurer. The paper in its editorial conduct is what 
may be termed independent Kepublican, and in its general tone, refined, literary 
and progressional. 

In 1884 the Telegraph absorbed the Chronicle^ whose history has previously 
been given. 

The latest daily journals in the fi^eld for public favor of Pittsburgh are the 

Pittsburgh Times and Evening Penny Press. The Times was established in by 

Robert P. Nevin as a morning paper, although under his Hitorship a spirited 
journal, independent in its tone and spirited in its editoria^Vit did iiou achieve 
success, however, much it deserved it. On it passed int . the owner- 
ship of The Times Publishing Company, when it was issued as a pei ny morning 
paper. C. D. Brigham, in former years proprietor and editor of the Commercial, 
took editorial charge of its columns. Compact in its articles, terse in its editorial 
diction, and comprehensive in its matter, it has achieved success, and is a willing 
and able advocate of the Republican party. 

The Evening Penny Press was established in by the Penny Press Publish- 
ing Company. It is in an eight page quarto sheet and Republican in its general 
policy, although given to independent editorials where its views conflict with "rings 
and party edicts." It has become one of the popular sheets of the city, and ably 
conducted has won success. These papers of latter origin being of but few years, 
their history is necessarily brief. 

Among the weeklies of the day is the Sunday Globe, the first number of which 
was issued June 4th, 1876, J. W. Breen editor and proprietor, and has been a suc- 
cess being now in its twelfth year. 

The East End PuUitin, established in by John Black, occupies a field all 

its own. Under the editorship of Fred Muller, it is not only a brilliant society 
journal of a higher class but a clever literary sheet. Mr. Black, who begun his 
journalistic career as an occasional reporter on the daily papers, started the publi- 
cation as a small semi-local society news and advertisement sheet in the East End 
of the city. Its standing, typographical appearance, and literary merit tells the 
story of the business ability, perseverance, and publishing tact which has pushed 
the journal to success. 

The East End News another new comer in the same field is making vigorous 
strides in the race. 

The Labor Tribune is a journal devoted to the advocacy of the Labor Reform 

party. Established in by Thos. A. Armstrong and Thos. Telford, and 'has 

done brave battle for its cause. 

The Alleghenian, published and edited by John B. Kennedy in Allegheny city, 
is the representative in that city of what the Bulletin is in Pittsburgh. The name 
is one that originated under a previous publication of several years since by Mr. 



304 ALLEGHENY COUNTTS 

Kennedy and his brother, now dead. Mr. Kennedy's connection with journalism 
began with his duties as a carrier boy on the Evening Gazette in July, 1833. He 
was afterwards connected with other publications, and was associate editor of the 
Commercial Journal of 1863. His long career in publication and the ripened 
editorial judgment shows in the conducting of the Alleghenian. 

These journals are the more representative journals of Allegheny county's press 
of to-day. A mention of all the publications must, as in the case of many other busi- 
ness interests of the county, be foregone. It has not been possible in this volume 
to tell of all that makes up the county's industry. The pages have already far 
overrun those contemplated in the constant temptation to tell of one more interest 
or branch of industry. Much as has been told, enough remains unmentioned to 
fill, if but even tersely expressed, another volume, and with the press as with other 
matters, necessity, not inclination, dictates the course. Enough has been said,, 
however, to show that the " fourth estate " has kept pace with the progress in alL 
other interest in Allegheny county's hundred years. 

Printing. 

If the spirit of Guttenberg and his associates could flit through the printing 
houses of the world to-day and witness not only the wonderful presses and unique 
fonts of type, but the typographical beauty of the work done, they would stand 
amazed at what had resulted from their wooden type and rude press. In that 
progress Allegheny county has kept pace, and in the growth of other branches of 
business moved abreast with them. There are to-day in Allegheny City and. 
Pittsburgh alone 74 printing houses. To give the history of them all can- 
not be done, but to connect the past with the present in this industry, as has been 
done in others, a brief genealogical paragraph is indulged in, in that it, with the- 
printing of newspapers, dates back to the hundred years of the county's existence.. 

Cramer's Almanack, from which quotations have several times been made in 
these pages, was the work of one of the "printing offices" of that date, and of 
which a direct successor is to-day famous elsewhere than in Pittsburgh for it& 
beautiful typographical work. 

Zadoc Cramer was in business in this city in 1801. He was succeeded by 
Cramer & Speer and Cramer, Speer & Eichbaum ; then William Eichbaum ; in 
the following year, 1816, by Eichbaum & Johnston, continuing in business until 
succeeded by Johnston & Stockton in 1824. Mr. Eichbaum retiring, except sck 
far as their paper mill at Fallston, Beaver county, was concerned, together with 
an extensive real estate interest there and in New Brighton. He remained a co- 
partner in these until some time in the '50s. Samuel K. Johnston, of the firm of 
Johnston & Stockton, was the father of S. Eeed Johnston. William Eichbaum. 
was the father of Joseph Eichbaum, of the present firm of Jos. Eichbaum & Co. 
In 1850 Mr. W. S. Haven succeeded Johnston & Stockton, and after several 
changes in the firm name the plant was vested in W. W. Lewis & Co., from whom 
Jos. Eichbaum & Co. purchased in 1881, thus making them the actual successors- 
of Zadoc Cramer, of 1801. 



MUSIC AND ART. 305 

Another printing house which has a direct connection with the fathers of the 
art in Allegheny county is that of A. A. Anderson & Son, which is the direct suc- 
cessor of the office of Butler & Lamdin of 1810- The material of this office was 
brought across the mountains on pack mules, and an old Ramage press, which was 
part of the outfit of the office, was sometime since in existence in Butler county, 
and possibly so still, it having been sold by A. A. Anderson some time after he 
succeeded to the outfit, a part of which was in the office of A. A. Anderson & Son. 
In 1825, Mr. Landin having died, Mr. Butler removed to Ravenna, Ohio. A. A. 
Anderson began his apprenticeship under Mr. Butler on the 8th day of August, 
1825. Mr. Butler came back to Pittsburgh in 1827, and Mr. Anderson accom- 
panied him, and followed the business as boy, journeyman and proprietor sixty- 
three years until his death, on May 18th, 1888, at the age of 78. He was at the 
time of his death the oldest job printer in the city, and his office in its succession 
from Landin & Butler could claim over seventy-five years of age. Mr. Anderson 
was a veteran in the profession as well as in years ; a man of unexceptional purity 
of life and honesty of purpose, unobtrusive in his habits and retiring in his busi- 
ness habits. He was not widely known personally. Envious of no man's good 
fortune, he was remarkable in that his more intimate associates never heard him 
reflect upon the purpose or actions of others, nor make use of vulgar or profane 
language. He was one of those rare characters that blossom unknown, but leave 
behind a memory fragrant with virtues. Since Mr. Anderson's death the succes- 
session to the firm continues in his sons, who are thus, with the exception of Jos. 
Eichbaum & Co., the oldest printing house in the city. 

These two firms are the representatives of the early printing offices of the 
county, and as such are noted. 



OHAPTEK XXII. 

Music, Art, and Benevolent Institutions. 

From a wilderness to a community of five hundred thousand inhabitants, with 
all the surroundings of modern civilization in its most advanced form, is a long 
stride of progress. Music, art and architecture always keep step in the progress 
of civilization in its advances, and in the progress of Allegheny county from a 
wilderness to a community of five hundred thousand inhabitants there was no ex- 
ception to the rule. 

Music seems, from the earlier records, to have been quite in advance of the 
usual standard of frontier towns an hundred years ago. This is probably the 
result of not only the regimental bands attached to the troops garrisoned at Fort 
Duquesne, but to the wives and daughters of the officers of the regiments of 
English troops stationed at Fort Pitt, who, with their fathers and husbands, had 
received an education in Europe, and would enliven the monotony of a garrison 
town with concerts and their musical entertainments. This would naturally culti- 
vate a musical taste in the settlers, and the records of eighty years since show that 

20 



306 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

it was enougli to encourage the establishment at Pittsburgh, in 1812-14, of 
a piano factory ; Charles Rosenbaum at that date advertising in the Gazette 
pianos of his own make for from |250 to $350 each, and offering to contract for 
the construction of grand pianos. 

In 1811 Francis Masi advertises a concert, and in 1812 Mr. Webster a concert 
of choice musical selections. 

In 1817 H. G. Pius " begs to announce that he will give lessons on piano, 
violin and guitar." 

In 1819 a concert for a charity relief fund is advertised to be given at the 
First Presbyterian Church by a juvenile choir. From about this date concerts as 
a fashionable amusement and teachers of music rapidly increased. William 
Stanton, organist of Trinity Church, advertises in 1824 to give lessons on piano 
and organ at $8 a quarter, three lessons a week. About this time Wm. Evans, an 
Englishman, a plane-maker by trade, but a great enthusiast in music, and also a 
composer, came to Pittsburgh, and in 1826 advertises to give lessons at $6 a 
quarter in singing. He was an active little body, odd in his costumes and noted 
for other peculiarities. He followed the making of planes, but also taught music, 
and organized several of the church choirs of the city. He mentions in his 
journal, which he kept quite fully but tersely, that he had assisted the Catholic 
Church in forming its first choir. 

At about this period, from 1826 to 1830, the modern music store made its debut 
at Pittsburgh, although instruments and music had been dealt in as part of the 
stock of the general stores of that earlier date. About 1829, W. C. Peters, who 
had been a band master in the English army, and came to Pittsburgh from Canada, 
opened a music store on Fifth avenue, in 1831, at or near what is now No, 33. He 
associated with him W. T>, Smith and John H. Mellor under the firm style of 
Smith, Peters & Co. The firm subsequently became Smith & Mellor, Mr. Peters 
going to Louisville. Afterward the firm style was John H. Mellor & Co. and in 
1844, John H. Mellor alone. In 1863, on his death, his son succeeded him in the 
business. (C. C. Mellor.) And subsequently associating with him H. H. Hoene 
the firm style became Mellor & Hoene, the present firm, whose lineage runs back 
for nearly sixty years in direct succession. 

In 1832 Henry Kleber came to Pittsburgh when quite a boy and has exerted 
a large influence on the progress of musical education in Allegheny county. He 
began teaching music, in 1837, at a private school kept by Mr. Lacy where St. 
Pauls Episcopal Church now stands. The location was for many years called, 
locally, Lacyville. The school was afterward broken up by the elopement of one 
of the young lady boarders. Later Mr. Kleber taught at a school of a Mrs. Hal- 
stead, at what is now Superior station, on the P. F. W. & C. railroad, and subse- 
quently began giving private lessons as a profession. While thus engaged 
he helped organize a musical society of the members of the first families of the 
town who frequently gave concerts in aid of charitable objects. He also helped 
organize the brass band of the Duquesne Greys, said to be the first band in Alle- 
gheny county. 



MUSIC AND ART. 307 

In 1839-40 Mr. Kleber opened a piano salesrooms at 103 Third avenue, and 
subsequently associated with him his brother Augustus, under the firm style of H. 
Kleber & Bro., which has so remained for over forty years. 

The genealogy of these two firms connect the past and the present, covering, as 
they do, a period of sixty years, while from Wm. Evans and Charles Eosenbaum, 
with his piano factory of 1812, the whole period of the hundred years of Alle- 
gheny county's musical progress is nearly covered. 

In music, so in art. Of the early artists, if such there were who were native 
to the locality, they have left no impress on the times, either by works or in mem- 
ories. Among the older features are family portraits, but they are the work of 
occasional artists, either imported from the East to do a special portrait, or on an 
accidental tour, staying in Pittsburgh awhile to pick up a few dollars with a "pot 
boiler." 

About 1839-40, or perhaps a little earlier, native artists began to show them- 
selves, although the "painter of pictures" for a livelihood did not rank as high in 
the estimation of the business men of that date as the painter of signs and doors 
and window panes, and the "struggling artist," to use a common phrase, struggled 
greatly. At about this time Blythe began painting his humorous pictures. 
Crude in design and execution, they were forcible in conception, and indicated 
that Allegheny county under more happy circumstances might have had the 
honor of a Hogarth, but one day "poor Blythe" was found dead in his studio, 
under circumstances that awakened suspicions that slow starvation hastened his 
end. Examples of his painting are now among the treasures of private collections. 
Along in the 40's came W. S. Wall, noted for the nice detail in the rendering of 
landscapes. After him, and in part contemporaneous, came A. S. Wall, whose 
work is characterized by boldness of touch, vigor of color, and broad artistic 
effect that makes it at all times a subject of regret that he should have abandoned 
the "pallette and brush" for commercial pursuits. In the same year Hetzel came 
upon the art stage, notable from his first eflTorts for the tender feeling for nature 
and its spring and summer landscapes, delighting to portray woodland nooks and 
rocky forest streams. Also Jasper Lawman, with his Taried genius for portraiture 
and landscape, conscientious in his rendering and successful in representation; 
and likewise Dalbey, in his specialty of portraits; also "Johns," notable for his 
vigorous treatment of animal subjects. And Woodwell, who, clinging to commer- 
cial pursuits, gives but half heart to the art wherein he shows great talent. 

Thus from decade to decade the artists and art education increased until, in 
1888, there are some twenty native artists in Pittsburgh, all of whom are more or 
less famous in their specialties. With their work grew an increasing love for art 
in the city and county, which led to the establishment of the Pittsburgh School of 
Design by Wm. Thaw, Chas. S. Clark, Henry Phipps, and other public spirited citi- 
zens, from which has graduated some notable artists of both men and women, and 
done much to cultivate an artistic taste in the community,^ With the growth of 
that, a distinct branch of_ business known as art stores, dealing in paintings. 



308 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

artistic furniture, and similar goods, originated. Among the earliest of these was 
that of J. J. Gillespie, who began business in the manufacture of looking glasses, 
and in 1838 the firm was Gillespie & Kennedy. It subsequently became J. J. 
Gillespie & Co., (A. C. McCallum, A. S. Wall,) Mr. Gillespie dying in 1887. He 
gradually turned his attention to art goods as the demand increased, until at present 
the establishment is almost entirely an " art store," the original foundation of the 
business, mirrors, or "looking glasses" as they were in more primitive days called? 
being still a branch of the business. Samuel Boyd also, in 1865, established 
a looking glass manufactury which, under the same progress in art, became an ar* 
store, and is now carried on under the firm style of S. Boyd & Co. The influence 
of this gradual art education has shown itself not only in the paintings that 
occupy wall space in private galleries and parlors, but in the greater artistic style 
of the interior adornment of homes. In the architectural designs of buildings 
this art education is apparent. The contrast between the public buildings, homes, 
and business edifices, and those of even thirty years since, not to go back to the 
beginning of the century, is wonderful. Especially is it so in buildings for business 
purposes. 

Time was when, even but twenty years since, that a four story building was 
thought imposing and its builders enterprising. To-day seven, eight and even 
ten-story edifices for business uses are a common feature on the business streets of 
Pittsburgh. The Hamilton building on Fifth avenue is a notable example in that 
as being the first of its height to be erected, it is also from its tall tower a resort 
for strangers who wish to obtain a view of the city. The new Court House, the 
Carnegie Library in Allegheny city, the Westinghouse offices, the Penn building, 
the Lewis block, and a dozen others mark the progress from the little squat two 
and three- story "stores" of fifty years since. 

Music, art and architecture has gone hand in hand with the advance in wealth, 
manufacturing importance, and all other things in Allegheny county. To give a 
detailed account of this art progress would occupy chapters that might be filled 
with interesting reminisences, but, as in the other divisions of this sketch of Alle- 
gheny county's hundred years, inclination must yield to necessity. Enough has 
been stated to form a swiftly passing panorama of the progress of the county in 
music, art and architecture, from a rude frontier village to the great community it 
now is. 

Benevolent Societies. 
Records show nothing in the very early years of the county of benevolent in- 
stitutions if they existed. There were then, no doubt, as now the blind and the 
halt, poor souls, who needed refuge, homeless orphans, and those who needed the 
skilled nursing, tender care and practiced surgery of hospitals ; but while tender 
hearts beat then, liberal hands gave, charities were bestowed and benevolence ex- 
ercised, the county was too young for that evolution of advancing civilization that 
organizes charities and benevolent institutions. With all things else in the history 
of the county its day came. 



BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 309 

In 1832 a meeting was held in the First Presbyterian Church, on the 17th of 
April, to organize an effort to establish an orphan asylum, of which mention is 
made in the general history of the county. From that time benevolent institu- 
tions and hospitals have multiplied, until there are fifty-two in Pittsburgh and 
Allegheny, not to mention the' societies connected with the various churches, 
the result of fifty years' work. The records of their organization and final estab- 
lishment show that they are chiefly the work of the women of the county. They 
have been the result of mite contributions, of the unpleasant work of soliciting 
subscriptions, of fairs and concerts, and frequently of the generous sums of yearly 
contributions and large special donations. 

The Home for Incurables owes its building and endowment to the generosity 
of the late Miss Jane Holmes, and the Home for Aged Women and Aged Protest- 
ant Couples, at Wilkinsburg, are largely the results of her benefactions. 

The Home for the Friendless was organized May 1st, 1861 ; Allegheny Ladies' 
Tract -Society, 1843; Allegheny Belief Society, 1848; St. Josephs Orphan Asy- 
lum, 1853; Widows' Home and Tenant House, 1866; Ladies' Association of the 
Homeopathic Hospital, 1866; Temporary Home for Destitute, 1869; Women's 
Christian Association, 1869; Home for Aged Protestant Women, 1871; Christian 
Home for Women, 1872; Home of the Good Shepherd, 1872; St. Francis Hos- 
pital, Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, St. Michael's German Catholic Orphan 
Asylum, Episcopal Church Home, Women's Christian Temperance Union, 3874; 
Home for Aged Protestant Couples, about 1880 ; Women's Christian Association 
of East Liberty, Children's Temporary Home and Nursery, Children's Country 
Home, 1881; Women's Fruit and Flower Association for Hospitals, Pittsburgh 
and Allegheny Orphan Asylum, 1832 ; Home of the Little Sisters, Society for 
the Improvement of the Poor, 1875 ; Home for Aged Colored Women, 1884 ; 
Home for Incurables, 1886. 

These more prominent institutions and associations under the charge of the 
women of Allegheny county indicate its progress, and the work of the mothers, 
sisters and daughters of the men who have been building up the industrial estab- 
lishments. The Roman Catholic institutions are cared for largely by the different 
Sisterhoods, while the Protestant ones by the women of all denominations, work- 
ing to a common end in harmony. Some paragraphs could be justly indulged in 
to tell of the generosity of these women, the self-sacrifice and the years of exer- 
tion to place all of them in the effective condition they now are, but to mention a 
few would require the mention of all, for there are none of the members of the 
various boards and their officers that have not borne their share in the work. 
Chiefly and, in fact, almost entirely managed by a board of women, the result 
shows their efficiency. 

Nor have the men of the county been laggard in the work of benevolence. 
The Homoeopathic Hospital, the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, the Mercy 
Hospital, the Pittsburgh Infirmary, the Allegheny Prison Society, the Pennsyl- 
vania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, the Pennsylvania Reform School, the 



310 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

Allegheny County Inebriate Asylum, the Young Men's Christian Association, all 
tell their story of time taken from the absorbing demands of business in a county 
where the rate of progress of all business has been such as to leave few or no 
hours for the organizing and establishing of benevolent or reformatory institutions. 

If Allegheny county has reason to be proud of her mechanics, manufacturers 
and business men laboring in its industrial fields, it has as great reason to be proud 
of its women and men working in the field of charity and benevolence. 

Of the men, as said of the women, paragraphs could be written to tell of large 
handed generosity in this work. It is but just to say that industrious, conserva- 
tive and frugal as are the great mass of Allegheny county's business men and 
mechanical workers, the voice of distress ever finds a listening ear and a helping 
hand, whether it come from the population around them or from some distant or 
nearer city, where some calamity has brought distress and suffering. 

Masonic. 

The existence of Masonry in Western Pennsylvania dates back to 1759. It ap- 
pearing from the minutes of the Eoyal Arch Lodge No. 3, of Philadelphia, that 
John Hoodlass was " duly and lawfully entered, passed and raised at Fort Pitt in 
the year 1759, by our brethern John Maine, James Woodward, and Eichard Ladly, 
all Eoyal Arch Masons," by which it appears that Free Masonry was practiced at 
Pittsburgh 124 years ago. There seems to be some doubt as to the existence of 
any regular lodge at Fort Pitt at that time, and it is presumed that it was under 
the action of the Military Lodge attached to the Eoyal Irish regiment then at 
Fort Pitt. The first regular lodge at Pittsburgh was No. 45, and is asserted to have 
been the first west of the Allegheny mountains. This dates back to December 
27th, 1785. 

The second was Ohio Lodge No. 113, of which Nathaniel Bedford, W. M., 
Isaac Craig, S. W., and Thomas Collins, J. W., were- officers. This lodge is men- 
tioned in Cramer's Almanack of 1809, where in an account of glass cutting at Pitts- 
burgh, a chandelier cut by "an ingenious German, (Eichbaum,) formerly glass cutter 
to Louis XVI., late King of France," is mentioned as suspended "in the Ohio Lodge 
No. 113, in the house of Mr. Kier, Inn keeper." In 1816 Lodge No. 145 was held 
at Wilkinsburg, Wm. Hamilton, W. M., William Parke, S. W., James Johnston 
J. W. In 1819 the Milnor Lodge No. 165 was held at Pittsburgh, Wm. McCand- 
less, W. M., William Steele, S. W., James Eiddle, J. W. In 1817 Hamilton 
Lodge No. 173 was held at Lawrenceville, Walter Forward, Solomon Brown, Alex. 
Peniland, W. W. Fetterman, Nathaniel Fetterman were mentioned at this lodge. 
Among other citizens of Pittsburgh's earlier days who were Masons, was Jas. W. 
Eiddle, who published the first directory of the town, Magnus M. Murray who 
was Mayor in 1828 and 1829. 

Wm. Porter, the first iron manufacturer from whose works was organized the 
first rolling mill at Pittsburgh. Anthony Beelen, who had the first white lead 
works at Pittsburgh and one of the earliest foundries^ and was connectedas busi- 



MASONIC HISTORY. Sll 

ness agent with tlie second glass works. Henry Baldwin, Samuel Pettigrew who 
was Mayor in 1832. Shepley K. Holmes, Kob't B. Mowery, eminent physicians 
away back in the twenties and earlier. Judge Sam'l Jones who published the 
directory of the city in 1826, and was in the banking firm of Sibbitt & Jones. 
George Miltenberger who was engaged in copper manufacturing in 1807. Morgan 
Neville, an editor and proprietor on the Gazette in 1818. Walter Forward, after- 
ward secretary of the treasury. Patrick McKenna, the famous auctioneer of 
1838-9. Chas. Shaler, the eminent lawyer. Francis Bailey, Capt. John Birming- 
ham. It is not intended to compile a directory of Masons, but those names are 
given to indicate how men, the most active in building the city were among the 
order. In 1846 the anti-Masonic furor was begun and a bitter warfare was waged 
against the Masons. It merged into the political organization of the county, and 
the anti-Masonic party became a power in Pennsylvania, which elected Joseph 
Ritner governor on the anti-Masonic ticket. Many lodges throughout the land 
were blotted out, and Lodge No. 45 was the only one at Pittsburgh that survived. 
The storm past, the order again raised its head and has continued to find favor. 
There are to-day in Allegheny county thirty lodges where there was but one in 
1846, and in the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny 2897 members of Craft Lodges. 

The Masonic Hall, on Fifth avenue, was destroyed by fire on August 12, 1887, 
and many historical reminiscences connected with it. It was in it that Jenny 
Lind sang when at Pittsburgh. In it the Free Soilers held their convention Aug. 
12, 1852, at which John P. Hale of New Hampshire was nominated for president 
and George W. Julian, of Indiana, for vice president. It was a favorite hall for 
entertainments of the higher order. The hall was dedicated October 19th, 1851, 
and the corner stone of the new temple was laid with appropriate ceremonies 
September 11th, 1888, by Joseph Eichbaum, Ei^ht Worshipful Grand Master of 
Pennsylvania. 

In Pennsylvania there have been but two Grand Masters selected from west of 
the Allegheny Mountains, vi^., Samuel B. Dick, of Meadville, and Jos. Eichbaum, 
of No. 219, Pittsburgh, in 1886-8. Geter C. Shidle, of No. 287, is D. D. G. M. of 
District No. 28, and James S. McKean, of No. 525, D. D. G. M. of District No. 32. 
James H. Hopkins was Grand Commander of the Grand Encampment of Knights 
Templar of the United States. Also, James H. Hopkins, Geter C. Shidle, D. W. 
C. Carroll, and Charles W. Batchelor have severally held the office of Eminent 
Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The Order of Odd Fellows. 

The Order of Oddfellowship began in the city of London in the seventeenth 
century, its object being both benevolent and beneficial. It had its origin in 
America in 1819 with Thos. Wildey, when on the 20th of April, 1819, Washington 
Lodge No. 1 was instituted in Baltimore. It was in the year 1821 the first Lodge 
was formed in Pennsylvania, December 26th, in Philadelphia. On December 
29th, 1828,^the Mechanics Lodge No. 9 was located in the city of Pittsburgh, being 



312 ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S 

the first in Allegheny county, and the first west of the Allegheny mountains. It 
was instituted June 6, 1829, by Thos. Small, P. G. M., as a special deputy. The 
first place of meeting is said to have been at the corner of Penn and Hand (now 
Ninth) streets. In May, 1829, the house in which the Lodge was located took fire 
and was burned, the Lodge losing its fixtures, regalia, etc. The Grand Lodge re- 
garded it as a calamity to the whole Order, and a committee was appointed to 
obtain contributions from the Eastern Lodges for its assistance. The Order was 
at that time poor, and but $70 was obtained. This act of fraternal kindess brought 
the Order into favorable notice, and the Lodge was re-established and began to 

* prosper. The Order continues to prosper in Allegheny county, it ranking next 

» to Philadelphia in Lodges, members and wealth. 

-i Tlijb Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania is composed of 22,306 Past Grands, and 

'' g^ has urfder its jurisdiction 941 Subordinate Lodges, with a membership of 84,810, 
■■ ?"* who p^aid for relief during the year 1887 an amount equal to $51.68^% for each 
^%,^| hour in the year, 

4 • There are 64 Lodges in Allegheny county, with a membership of 5,176, who 

, paid for relief to 719 members, during the year 1887, the sum of $28,134.94. Also, 

15 Encampments of Patriarchs, with a membership of 607, who paid for relief 

daring the year 1887, the sum of $2,595. The military branch of the Order is yet 

hfits infancy, Canton Pittsburgh, No. 18, Patriarchs Militant, was mustered in 

.about one year ago, whilst Canton Allegheny will soon be mustered in. There are 

also seven Degree Lodges of the Daughters of Rebekah, with a membership of about 

'f720, composed of the wives, daughters and sisters of Odd Fellows, whose objects, 

* though similar in purpose, are mainly of a social character. 

?• Of those who have held official positions in the Grand Lodge there were from 

this county, as Grand Master, I^enry Lambert, of No. 475, in 1859-60 ; Alfred 
Slack, of No. 241, in 1871-72 ; John A. Myler, of No. 182, in 1879-80 ; John W- 
Haney, of No. 431, in 1887-88. As Grand Patriarch of the Grand Encampment 
there were from Allegheny county, James A. Sholes, of No. 101, in 1870-71; Ed- 
ward Jones, of No. 101, in 1877-78 ; and M. D. Wiley, of No. 101, in 1888. As 
Grand Representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge there were from Allegheny 
county, P. Magee, in 1860-61; Hon. John H. Bailey, in 1866-69; and Alfred 
Slack, in 1880. 

Tiie Odd Fellows' Endowment Association, composed exclusively of Odd Fel- 
lows, although a State organization, was projected and organized in Allegheny 
county in 1878; is conducted on a mutual basis, and has had a successful career, 
another instance of the pioneer character of the county. It has for its object 
°^^, the payment of $2,000 upon the death of a member; has now nearly 3,000 mem- 

bers, and has paid to the families of deceased members up to May 1, 1888, the sum 
of $271,786, of which amount the sum of $54,000 was paid during the year 1887. 
Its first officers were John A. Myler, president ; J. H. Elton, treasurer, and Henry 
Steuernagel, secretary. The latter declined a re-election in 1880, and was succeeded 
by Geo. C. Johnstone, the present secretary. 



•.,^' 




i' ■ 


I 



'■f>?wTi 



Established 1863. 

TRADESMENS NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

Wood Street, Cor. Fourth Ave. 

Capital, - - - S400,000. 

Surplus, - - - 400,000. 

President — A. Bradley. 

Vice President — W. Vankirk. 

Cashier — Ross W. Drum. 

Directors— A. Bradley, Oliver P. Scaife, Wm. 
Vankirk, W. D. Wood, Sullivan Johnson, Jas. 
M. Schoonmaker, John C. Risher, John Dunlap, 
John F. Dravo, thas. H. Bradley, S. Hamilton. 

Established 1863. 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

OF ALLEGHENY. 
No. 114 FEDERAL STREET. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



$350,000. 
100,000. 



President — James McCutcheon. 
Cashier — E. P. Kramer. 

Directors — James McCutcheon, C. C. Boyle, 
Geo. W. Cochran, E. Groetzinger, Wm. Har- 
baugh, Joseph McNaugher, John Ogden, John 
Thompson. 

Established 1875. 

THIRD NATIONAL BANK 

OF ALLEGHENY, PA. 
No. loi FEDERAL STREET. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



$300,000. 
50,000. 



President — W. M. McKelvy. 
Vice President — R. H. Boggs. 
Cashier — H. A. Spangler. 

Directors— K^wrj Warner, W. H. Conley, N. 
H. Voegtly, Thomas Morrow, W. M. McKelvy 
W, S. McKinney, Samuel McKnight, David 
McFerron, R. H. Boggs. 

Established 1859. 

UNION NATIONAL BANK 

Cor, Fourth Ave. and Market St., 

PITTSBURGH. 

Capital, - - . $250,000. 

Surplus, - - - 500,000. 

President — Robert S. Smith. 
Cashier — Charles F. Dean. 
Assistant Cashier — Geo. M. Paden. 

Directors — R. S. Smith, Wm. Barker, Jr., 
Addison Lysle, Charles Atwell, J. C. Lappe, A. 
G. Cubbage, Joseph Home, Samuel Wilson, 
Thos. M. Armstrong. 



Established 1864. 

:pitxsbtji2.<3-h: 
NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE, 

Sixth Avenue and W^ood Street. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



$500,000. 
350,000. 



President — Joseph T. Colvin. 
Cashier — Chas. I. Wade. 

Directors— :i . T. Colvin, H. C. Frick, Chas. 
Lockhart, J. N. Anderson, A.W. Mellon, Wm. 
Pickersgill, Jr., Sam'l S. Brown, J. W. Arrott, 
P. C. Knox. 

Established 1869. 

531 Smithfield Street, 

PITTSBURGH. 

Capital, - . - $300,000. 

Surplus, ... 56,000. 

President— G. C. Shidle. 
Cashier — C. B. McLean. 
Assistant Cashier — W. R. Christian. 

Directors — Geter C. Shidle, John Caldwell, 
William C. King, William F. Wilson, John J. 
Lawrence, Harry P. Dilworth, G. W. vSimonds, 
John M. Kennedy, William McCullough, James 
A. Sholes, Joseph Eichbaum, John F. Scott, 
Chas. B. McLean. 

Established 1859. 

SECOND NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

Cor. Ninth St and Liberty Ave. 

Capital, • • . $300,000. 

Surplus and Undivided Profits, 190,000. 

President — James H. Willock. 
Cashier — Thomas W. Welsh, Jr. 

Directors — James H. Willock, Franklin Os- 
burn, G. E. Nieman, George H. Dauler, M. B. 
Suydam, William McConway, Levi Wade, G. 
N. Hoffstot, William Curry. 



Established 1864. 

FOURTH NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 
No. 82 FOURTH AVENUE. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



$300,000. 
61,568. 



President — James M. Bailey. 
Cashier — S. D. Herron, Jr. 

Directors — James M. Bailey, John M. Horner. 
Jacob Porter, Stephen C. McCandless, John B, 
Jackson, John D. Nicholson, S. D. Herron, Jr 



Established 1870. 

MARINE NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

No. 301 Smithfield Street. 

Capital, . . . S330,000. 

Surplus, . . . 83,366. 

President— W. W. O'Neil. 

Vice President— W. F. Wilson. 

Cashier — W. C. Macrum. 
Directors— D. W. C. Bidwell, Wm. France, 
Geo. S. Griseom, W. Seward B. Hays, Howard 
Hartley, Jacob Klee, Wm. J. Lewis, Robt. 
Montgomery, John C. Phillips, C. M. Robin- 
son, J. B. Sneathen. 

Established 1882. 

COMMERCIAL NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 
No. 97 FOURTH AVENUE. 
Capital, . . . SI300,000. 

Authorized, . . 500,000. 

Surplus, . . . 18,000. 

President — M. W. Rankin. 
Vice President— John W. Her r on. 
Cashier— H. W. Bickel. 
Pirectors—'M.. W. Rankin, John W. Herron, 
H. D. Smith, J. S. Reymer, S. S. Marvin, J. H. 
Borland, E. A. Myers, R. C. Emery, Henry 
Warner. 

Established 1879. 

FORT PITT NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

No. 79 FOURTH AVENUE. 

Capital, .... $200,000 

Surplus, .... 100,000 

Undivided Profits, July 1, 1888, 63,320 

President — D. Hostetter. 
Cashier — D. Leet Wilson. 

Directors — D. Hostetter, John C. Risher, 
Samuel Ewart, Robt. H. King, Daniel Wallace, 
James M. Bailey, Allen Kirkpatrick. 

Established 1871. 

FIFTH NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 



No. 16 SIXTH STREET. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



$100,000. 
80,000. 



President — Robt. Arthurs. 
Cashier — A. C. Knox. 

Directors — Robt. Arthurs, Ralph Bagaley, P. 
C. Knox, Wm. W. Patrick, Jesse H. Lippencott, 
J. B. Finley. 



Established 1884. 

KETSTOKE BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

Office, Petroleum Exchange Building, Fourth Avenue, 
between Wood and Smithfield Streets. 



Capital, 



»300,000. 



President — J. J. Vandergrift. 
Vice President — C. W. Batchelor. 
Cashier — A. B. Davitt. 

Directors— J. J. Vandergrift, R. C. Gray, J. 
W. Craig, C. W. Batchelor, Henry Fisher, W. 
H. Nimick, Geo. M. Laughlin, C. F. Klopfer, 
J. I. Buchanan. 

Organized 1810. Chartered 1814. 

Capital, $1,200,000. 

Surplus Fund, Sept. 12, 1888, $398,925.44. 



BANK OF PITTSBURGH. 

FOURTH AVE. 

President — John Harper. 

Cashier — William Roseburg. 

Asst. Cashier — John A. Harper. 
Directors.— John Harper, Reuben Miller, 
Robert M. Tindle, William A. Caldwell, Fe- 
lix R. Brunot, William Thaw, Jr., David 
Macferron, Daniel Agnew, Andrew D. Smith 
John Porterfield. 

Established 1866. 

THE PEOPLES SAVINGS BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

No. 81 FOURTH AVENUE. 

Capital, ... S300,000. 

Surplus, - - - 105,000. 

President — Wm. Rea. 

Vice President— Thos. Wightman. 

Sec'y and Treas.—'N. G. Von Bonnhorst. 
Trnstees—E. P. Jones, Geo. Wilson, Hon. Ed- 
win H. Stowe, Edward Gregg, Wm. Rea, John 
A. Caughey, W. J. Moorhead, Thos. Wightman, 
David McK. Lloyd. 

Established 1873. 

ANCHOR SAVINGS BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

No. 134 FIFTH AVENUE. 

Authorized Capital, - »100,000. 

President — A. M. Brown. 
Vice President — John Kelly. 
Cashier — Robert J. Stoney. 

Directors— A. M. Brown, John Kelly, Geo. 
W. Schmidt, Col. John Ewing, George Glass, 
David Steen, Goodman Y. Coulter, Henry 
Smith, Jas. H. Scott. 



Established 1865 — Shoenberger Furnaces. 
W. H. Shoenberger & Co. 

1868. 
Shoenberger, Blair & Co. 

1883-1888. 

SHOENBERGER, SPEER & CO. 

Blast Furnaces, 

Corner ISth and Fike Streets. 

Chas. L. Fitzhugh, Geo. K. Shoenberger, 

John Z. Speer, John H. Shoenberger, 
G. A. Steiner, Special Partners. 

General Partners. 

Established 1814— Allen & Grant. 

1840. 1815. 

M. Allen & Son. M. Allen & Co. 

1850-1888. 

Alex. Nimick. Geo. P. McBride. 

John S. Slagle. 

NIMICK & CO. 

IROE" COMMISSION, 

96 "Water Street, Pittsburgh. 

Established 1842. 
Elms & Chess, afterwards Campbell & Chess. 

1854. 1860. 

Chess, Wilson & Co. Chess, Smythe & Co. 

1880-1888. 

Henry Chess. Walter Chess. Harry B. Chess. 

Thos. McK. Cook. Geo. R. Lawrence. 

CHESS, CGOK & CO. 

Nails, Tacks, Expanded Metal, 

116 Water Street, Pittsburgh. 

Established 1882. 

EEPUBLIC IRON WORKS, Limited, 

Manufacturers of 

Black & Galvanized Sheet Iron, 

25th Street, S. S., Pittsburgh. 

E. C. Converse, Chairman. 

Horace Crosby, Treas. and Gen'l Manager. 

Novelty Works Variety Works 

Established 18—. Established 1857. 

18—. 

Jones, Wallingford & Co. 

1857. 

Jones-Nimick Manufacturing Co. 

1872. 

Jacobus & Nimick Manufacturing Co, 

1882-1888. 

NIMICK & BRITTAN MF'a CO. 
Builders' Hardware, Pad Locks, 

Office, 411 Wood St., Pittsburgh. 

Alex. Nimick, President. 

Arthur Brittan, General Manager. 

Glendy Si Graham, Sec'y and Treas. 



Established 1828. 
1845. Then 

Freeman & Miller. Miller, Lloyd & Black. 

1851. 
Lloyd & Black. 

1874-1888. 

H. LLOYD, SON & CO. 

BAR, SHEET AND BOILER IRON, 

Second Aye., above Try, Pittsburgh. 

Henry Lloyd, John W. Loyd, Wm. F. Lloyd. 
Henry Balken. 

McKEESPORT ROLLING MILL. 

Established 1851. 1871. 

W. Dewees Wood. W. D Wood & Co. 

1884-1888. 

W. D. WOOD & CO., Limited, 

Manufacturers of Patent 

PLANISHED SHEET IRON, 

lll'Water Street, Pittsburgh. 

W.'D. Wood. Allan W. Wood. 

Rich. D. Wood. Thos. W. Wood 

Established 1868. 

McCONWAY, TORLEY & CO. 

Manufacturers of 

MALLEABLE IRON CASTINGS, 

AND THE 

JANEY COUPLEE. 

Forty-Eighth Street and A. V. R. R. 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

Established 1878. 
PITTSBURGH BRIDGE CO. 

Manufacturers of 

HIGHWAY BRIDGES, 

Railway and Structural Iron Work. 
38th St. and A. V. R. R., Pittsburgh. 

Established 1802— Jeffrey Scaife. 

1834. 1838. 

Wm. B. Scaife & Co. Wm. B. Scaife. 

1849. 

Scaite & Atkinson. 

1850. 

Scaife, Atkinson & Oakley. 

1853. 

Wm. B. Scaife. 

1863-1888. 

WM. B. SCAIFE & SONS, 

Structural] Iron 'Workj^ Roofing, &c. 

Office, 119 First Avenue. 

Oliver P. Scaife. Chas. C. Scaife. 

Marvin F. Scaife. 



BRANCV^ 



,,<.''"= CARNEGIE""'^"* 
'"^'*'- ASSOCIATIONS, -<!*»»a.^ 



BLAST FURNACES. 



Edgar Thomson Furnaces, 7 Stacks. 

Bessemer Station, Allegheny County, Pa. 

Lucy Furnaces, 2 Stacks. 

51st and Railroad Streets, Pittsburg. 



IRON AND STEEL 
ROLLING MILLS. 



' Upper Union Mills, 8 Trains Rolls. 

33d Street and A. V. R. R., Pittsburg. 

Lower Union Mills, 5 Trains Rolls. 

29th Street and A. V. R. R., Pittsburg. 

Homestead Steel Works, 6 Trams Rolls. 

Munhall Station, P. V. &. C R. R., Pa. 

Hartman Steel Works. 4 Trains^bftisi' 

Beaver Falls, Pa. 



BESSEMER 
STEEL WORKS. 



Edgar Thomson Steel Works, 3 lo-Ton Converters. 

Bessemer Station, Penn'a R. R. 

Homestead Steel Works, 2 5-Ton Converters. 

Munhall Station, P. V. & C. R. R. 



OPEN HEARTH 
STEEL WORKS. 



{ 



Homestead Steel Works, 
Munhall Station. 



3 25-Ton Furnaces. 
I 20 



STEEL RAIL MILL. | 



Edgar Thomson Steel Works, 1000 Tons Rails per day. 
Bessemer Station, Pa, 



ARMOR PLATE MILL 



•t 



Homestead Steel Works, 

Munhall Station, Pa. 



f Armor Plates, Slabs, 
\ Heavy Shafting. 



BRIDGE WORKS. 



WIRE MILLS. 



{20,000 Tons Material, 
Equal to 10 Miles Bridge 
Work per annum. 
51st and Harrison Streets, Pittsburg. 



{ 



Hartman Steel Works, too Tons Wire per day. 

Beaver Falls, Pa. 



WIRE NAIL 
FACTORIES. 



{ 



Hartman Steel Works, 

Beaver Falls, Pa. 



("20,000 Kegs Wire Nails 
\ per month. 



ORE MINES. 



Scotia Ore Mines. f75'°°o Tons Hematite 

( Ore per annum. 
Centre County, Pa. 

American Manganese Co., Ltd. / 20,000 Tons Manganese 

(. Ore per annum. 
Crimora, Va. 



COKE OVENS. 



Larimer Coke Works, 300 Ovens. 

Carnegie Station, Penn'a R. R. 

Youghiogheny Coke Works, 200 Ovens. 

Douglas Station, P., McK. & Y. R. R. 



NATURALGAS LINES | <=-"««» Natural Gas Co. {f^p^^t'ng Wells, 

^ To Murraysville and Grapeville Fields. 



ENAMEL WORKS. 



f American Enamel Co., Limited. / ^- ^- ^}^^°'^ ^ 

■j ( otreet bigns. 

(. Beaver Falls, Pa. 



Established 1824. 
Peter Shoenberger. 

183- 
Peter Shoenberger & Son. 

1836. 
G. & J. H. Shoenberger & Co. 

1863-1888. 

SHOENBERGER & CO. 

Manufacturers of 

15th and Etna Streets, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

Charles L. Fitzhugh,^ 

John Z. Speer, > General Partners. 

G. A. Steiner, j 

?,'£. H's\T.'ggr, } Special Partner.. 

Established 1852. 

1852. 1854. 

Jones, Lauth & Co. Jones & Laughlin. 

1883-1888, 

JONES & LAUGHLIN, LT'D, 

Manufacturers of 

IRON AND STEEL, 

Nails, Cold Eolled Shafting, 
Cor. Try St. & Third Av., Pittsburgh. 

B; F. Jones, Chairman. 

Geo. M. Laughlin, Thos. M. Jones, 

Sec. & Treas. General Mangr. 

Established 1865. 

MSLLER, METCALF & PARKIN 

CRESCENT STEEL. 

Office, 136 First Av. Pittsburgh, Pa. 

New York, 480 Pearl Street. 
Chicago, 64 & 66 S. Clinton St. 

Reuben Miller. Wm. Metcalf. Chas. Parkin. 

Established 1829— M. S. Meason. 

Then Then 

Miltenberger & Brown. Bailey, Brown & Co. 

Then 

BROWN & CO. 

lEON AND STEEL, 

Tentli St. and Duquesne Way, 

John H. Brown, 

J. Stewart Brown, PITTSBURGH. 

Henry Graham Brown. 



Established 1859— Hussey, Wells & Co. 

1876. 

Hussey, Howe & Co. 

1880. 

Hussey, Howe & Co., Limited. 

1888. 

HOWE, BROWN & CO., Limiied 

OAST STEEL, 

Seventeenth and Penn Avenue. 



Established 1863. 
Jas. P. Witherow. 



1879. 
Witherow & Gordon. 



1884-1888. 

JAS. P. WITHEROW, 

Engineer and Contractor, 

Furnace and Steel Works Construction, 

LEWIS BLOCK, 

Sixth Ave. and Saithfield St., Fittsbargh. 

Established 1869. 
1869. 1870. 

Wm. Clark. Wm. Clark A Co. 

1887-1888. 

WM. CLARK'S SON & CO. 

Manufacturers of 

IRON AND STEEL. 

HOOPS AND BANDS. 
Cor. 35th and Charlotte, Pittsburgh. 

Established 1872. 

P. O. NICOLS, 

Agent and Dealer in 

IRON, STEEL, ETC. 

No. 8 Wood Street, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

Established 1848. 

SINGER, NIMICK & CO. LT'D, 

Manufacturers of 

3t:h::bijS, 

No. 83 Water Street, - Pittsburgh. 

Wm. H. Singer, Chairman. 
Geo. Singer, Jr., Sec. & Treas. 



Established 1862. 



PITTSBURGH BANK FOR SAVINGS 

No. 60 Fourth Avenue. 



Assets, July Ist, 188S, 
Capital Stock paid in, 
Surplus Fund, 
Undivided Profits, 



Sl,795,162.00 
75,000.00 
75,000.00 
16,390.43 



President— Geo. A. Berry. 
• Vice PresVs— Alex. Bradley and R. C. Schmertz. 
Sec^y and Treas. — Charles G. Milnor. 
Board of Managers— Geo. A. Berry, H. C. 
Bughman, T. C. Lazear, Geo. A. Kelly, Alex. 
Eradley, Chas. F. Wells, Frank Rahm, L. M. 
Plumer, R. C. Schmertz, Jas. Laughlin, Jr., 
Jacob Painter, Jr., John Scott, Jas. L. Graham, 
J. K. Dorrington, C. G. Milnor. 

Established 1881. 

IRON AND GLASS 

DOLLAR SAVINGS BANK 

No. 1115 Carson Street, S. S. 

Capital, - - - S100,000. 

President — Thomas B. Atterbury. 

Cashier — Henry Stamm. 

Assistant Cashier — John Dunwoody. 

Directors — T. B. Atterbury, Daniel Wenke, 
John Gallaher, F. Baxmyer, E. P. Logan, Chas. 
Poth, John Davies, M. Kimmel, W. J. Lewis, 
Robt. McDonald, Thomas Evans, Geo. A. Mac- 
beth, James E. Duncan. 



Established 1866. 

LAWRENCE SAVINGS BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 
Cor. Penn Ave. and Butler St. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



S80,000. 
50,000. 



President — W. W. Young. 
Cashier — John Hoerr. 

Directors — W. W. Young, A. H. Ahlborn, Jas. 
B. Young, Thos. B. Stewart, Sam'l McMahon, 
Wm. Flaccus, John C. Kirkpatrick, Geo. Mc- 
Kee, John Hoerr. 

Established 1884. 
JOHN M. OAKLEY & CO. 

BANKERS AND BROKERS, 

Member Chicago Board of Trade, 

Member Pittsburgh Oil Exchange, 

-5:5 Sisstla, Street. 
1888. 



Established 1849 by Patrick & Friend. 

1854-1888. 

R. PATRICK & CO. 

B .Au IST IC E I^ S , 

No. 53 Fifth Aveuae, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

Established 1859 by Semple & Jones. 

1888. 

W. R. THOMPSON & CO. 



BANKERS, 



Corner of Fourth Ave. and Wood St. 

PITTSBURGH. 

Established 1821. 

N. HOLMES & SOISTS, 

BANKERS, 

30© ^vsTarlcet Street, 
PITTSBURGH. 

1888. 

Established 1869. 

T. MELLON & SON, 
BANKERS, 

SI.3 Sraitla-fLeld. Street, 

PITTSBURGH. 

1888. 

Established 1882. 

REA BROS. & CO. 

BANKERS AND BROKERS, 

435 Wood St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Members of New York, Philadelphia and 
Pittsburgh Stock Exchanges. Private wires 
to New York and Philadelphia. 



Established 1S57, 



Established 1860. 



ALLEGHENY NATIONAL BANK GERMAN NATIONAL BANK 



OF PITTSBURGH. 

No. 45 FIFTH AVENUE. 

Capital, - - - *500,000. 

Sarplas, . - - 160,000. 

Fre^ideni—\V . McCandless. 
Vice President— 3 oshna Khodes. 
Cashier— F. C. Hutchinson. 

I>iredo):t—W. McCandless, Joshua Rhodes, 
John Caldwell, Jr., B. H. Ruble, William 
Stewart. Thos. Evans, James McGregor, J. 
McM. King, Walter Chess. 

Established 1851. 

CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH, 
Cor. "Wood and Diamond Streets. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



S800,()00. 
175,000. 



President — George A. Berry. 
Cashier— B.. K. Wilson. 

i)!rec/o?-5— G^eorge A. Berry, Jno. C. Risher, 
Frank Rahm,Wm McCreery, H. C. Bughman, 
Wm. B. Negley, Robert Pitcairn, Geo. W. Dil- 
worth, A. C. McCallam. 



Established 1836. 

THE EXCHANGE NATIONAL BANK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 
fifth Aveauo, between Wood and Mariet Sts. 



Capital, 
Surplus, 



Sl,300,000. 
400,000. 



President— 'y'L&.x\ W. Watson. 
Vice President— John H. Dalzell. 
Cashier — Andrew Long. 
DiVec/c//-.s— Mark W. Watson, John H. Dal- 
zell, John H. Shoenberger, Frank S. Bissell, 
Calvin Wells, C. B. Herron, J. P. Hanna, H. S. 
McKee, John B. Jackson, J. W. Dakell, W. H. 
Singer, Jas. W. Brown, M. K. Moorhead. 

Established 1852. 



OF PITTSBURGH. 

Cor. Wood Street and Sixth Ave. 

Capital, - - - 82.50,000. 

Authorized Capital, - 500,000. 

Surplus, - - - 390,0U0» 

President — A Groetzinger. 
Cashier — Jos. Laurent. 

Directors — A. Groetzinger, E. H. Myers, H. H, 
Xieman, P. Haberman, E. Fraueuheim, Martin 
Lappe, Christian Siebert, John F. Havekotte,. 
Jos. Vogel, Sr. 

Established 1?57. 

IRON CITY NATIONAL B\NK 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

No. 74 FOURTH AVENUE. 

Capital, - - _ $400,000. 

Surplus Fund, - - 250,000. 

Presiderif — Alex. M. Byers. 
Cashier — Oliver Lemon. 

Directors — Alex. M. Byers, James Herdman, 
E. M. Bvers, Lewis Irwin, S. Lindsav. Jr., W. 
W. Speer, J. B. D. Meeds. J. Kidd Fleming, 
Jno. R. McGinley, J. D. Layng, Chas. L. Cole,. 
Wm. N. Frew, Jas. H. Reed. 

Established 1833. 
Merchants and Manufacturers 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

No. 6i FOURTH AVENUE. 

Capital. ■ • . $800,0 00 

Surplus and I ndlTided Profits, - lOo.OOO^ 

President — E. M. Ferguson. 
Cashier — W. A. Shaw. 

Directors — E. M. Ferguson, George A. Kelly,. 
Henry Lloyd, H. Sellers McKee, John E. Hur- 
ford, "r. P.'Wallace, John Caldwell, James A. 
Chambers. Thos. D. Messier. 

Established 1864. 



FIRST NATIONAL BANK THIRD NATIONAL BANK 



OF PITTSBURGH. 

Cor. Wood Street and Fifth Ave. 

Capital, - - - S750,000. 

Surplus, ... 150,000. 

President — Alexander Ximick. 

Cashier— J. D. Scully. 

Assistant Cashier — Chas. E. Speer. 

Directors — Alexander Ximick, Robt. S. Hays, 
J, H. McKelvy, Thos. W,ightman, Jas. S. Mc- 
Cord, J. H. Lindsay, John Wilson, Harry 
Brown, Jas. Laughlin, Jr. 



OF PITTSBURGH. 

Cor. Wood Street and Virgin Alley. 

Capital, - - - 8500,000. 

Surplus Fund, - - 335,000. 

President— Vi". E. Schmertz. 
Cashier — W. Steinmeyer. 
Assistant Cashier — Ogden Russell. 

Directors— VT . E. Schmertz, John Daub, A. C. 
Dravo, Jas. T. Hamilton, B. Woltf, Jr., John M. 
Kennedv, Geo. D. McGrew, H. Dallmeyer^ 
Chas. F." Wells. 



Established in 1867 by George B. Hill. 

1872-1888. 

Geo. B. Hill. Wm. I. Mustin. 

John D. Nicholson. 

GEO. B. HILL & CO. 

Dealers in all kinds of 

BONDS AND BANK STOCKS 

111 Fourth Avenue. 

Established in 1871 by George I. Whitney. 

1884-1888. 

WHITNEY & STEPHENSON, 

BROKERS, 

Members New York Stock Exchange, 
59 Fourth Ave., Pittsburgh. 

Geo. I. Whitney. Frank L. Stephenson. 

HENRY M. LONG, 

BROKER IN 

Stocks, Bonds, Mortgagres 

AND KEAL ESTATE, 
Office, No. 67 Fourth Avenue, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 



Established 1849. 

WESTERN INSURANCE CO. 

OF PITTSBUKGH. 
Capital, - - - $300,000.00. 
Surplus, - - - . $439,410.50. 
411 Wood Street. 
President — Alex. Nimick. 
Vice Pres7— John B. Jackson. 
Secretary— Wm. P. Herbert. 
Directors— A\e^. Nimick, Reuben Miller, 
Jr., John R. McCune, Chas. J. Clarke, Wm. S. 
Evans, Philip Reymer, H. Sellers McKee, 
John B. Jackson, Edwin S. Stowe, Jas. S. 
Atterbury, Jas. A. McDevitt, Wm. N. Frew. 

Established 1854. 

ALLEGHENY INSURANCE CO. 



OF PITTSBURGH. 



Capital, 

Ket Surplus, - 



$100,000.00. 
$52,626.20. 



67 FOURTH AVE. 

President— Gh&v\es Hays. 

Vice Pres'i— James S. McCord. 

Secretary— C. G. Donuell. 
' Z>iVectors.— Charles Hays, Jas. S. McCord, 
C. G. Hussey, John Irwin, Jr., Geo.W. Coch- 
ran, W. H. Everson, Jas. B. Oliver, Jos. T 
Speer, Capt. Jas.W. Porter, Thomas H.Lane, 
John H. Niemann, Hon. J. F. Slagle. 



Organized May, 1872, 

PPNli^ INSURANCE CO. 

OF PITTSBURGH. 
Cash Capital, $250,000. 

65 Fourth Ave. 

President — S. S. D. Thompson. 

Secretary— \Y . D. McGill. 

General Agent — E. E. E. Stewart. 
Directors. — S. S. D. Thompson, John D. 
Scully, A. S. M. Morgan, J. G. Wainwright, 
J. C. Lewis, John Heath, Wm. T. Dunn, Jas. 
S. McCord, Andrew Miller, M. G. Clark, Ed- 
ward O'Neil, Frank E. Heath, W. S. McKin- 
ney, F. Gwinner, Jr., W. D. McGill, W. W. 
Speer, I. N, Patterson, Adam Wiese, Jos. P. 
Mclntire, John H. Stotz, P. H. Ittel. 

Established 1866. 

PIIZANS INSURANCE CO. 

OF PITTSBURGH. 
Capital, $100,000. 

Third Av. and Wood St. 

President — A. J. Barr. 
Vice PresH — John Dunlap. 
Secretary — Chas. P. Smith. 

Directors.— 3 ohn Dunlap, A. Garrison, Jos. 
H. Borland, H. H. Smith, J. B. D. Meeds, 
J. J. Donnel], A. J. Barr, Sullivan Johnston, 
E. A. Myers, Daniel McKee, E. Z. Smith, 
A. L. Bailey. 

Incorporated 1865. 

Manufacturers and Merchants 
Insurance Company, 

OF PITTSBURGH. 

Capital, $250,000.00. 

Assets, July 1, 1888, - $362,629.13. 

President — James I. Bennett. 
Vice Pre57— John W. Chalfant. 
Secretary — William T. Adair. 

Directors.— :ia,s. I. Bennett, John W. Chal- 
fant, A. E. W. Painter, Robert Lea, M. W. 
Watson, John Wilson, Joseph Walton, C. W. 
Batchelor, Wm. G. Park, A. M. Byers, Jacob 
Painter, Jr. 

Established 1851. 

PITTSBURGH INSURANCE CO. 

Wood and First Avenue. 

Capital, $100,000.00. 

Surplus, $157,370.29. 

President — Chas. Arbuthnot. 

Vice PresH — John Fullerton. 

Secretary — Hillis McKown. 
Directors. — Chas. Arbuthnot, James Gor- 
don, Max. K. Moorhead, Allen Kirkpatrick, 
James S. McCord, John Daub, Hillis Mc- 
Kown, John Scott, Alexander Bradley, John 
Fullerton, Henry Lloyd, James McCutcheon, 
R. J. Wilson, C^.l. Jas. Collord. 



<f 



^ 






o. 



